Multivitamins have been used extensively in North America since 1936, when scientists first noted the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals necessary to maintain and elevate human health.

A multivitamin is considered by many to be a ‘safety net’ or ‘insurance plan’ for overall well-being; a source of nutrients that preserve immunity and biological processes when we might not be eating or drinking optimally for our bodies. Over 50% of the adult population of North America consume multivitamins today, choosing from a massive range of products offered in the health and wellness industry (one of the biggest consumer industries in the world today!)

But recent research has called into question both the safety and efficacy of multivitamins. Some studies have even suggested that this so-called ‘security net’—once believed to be able to balance and nourish our bodies and prevent illness over a lifetime—may actually be detrimental to our health, increasing the risk of such imbalances as cancer and heart disease.

But how could this be? Given that we know what multivitamins should contain to support our bodies—and have documented proof that these nutrients are essential for us—why would a multivitamin result in anything less than improved health in the short and long term?

Well, there are many reasons, in fact.

It turns out that the idea that we can put all the nutrients necessary for human life into a single pill and consume that daily is pretty wrong. Really wrong, in fact, and this may be the deciding key factor behind the questionable effects of conventional multivitamins.

Let us explain:

Nutrients that are contained in food behave differently than those in supplemental form. When scientists first recognized the essential nutrients needed to maintain health, they were looking at those isolated from food ingredients (as that’s where human beings should optimally be getting their nutrition from!). They assumed, as one would expect, that a laboratory-isolated form of the nutrient would behave relatively the same as that in food, and provide the same beneficial effects in a pill that it would in a more ‘natural’ form.

It turns out, however, that they were quite wrong. Multivitamins that are designed with every known essential nutrient included within them actually result in very negative interactions occurring between nutrients when the pill is ingested. This interaction—called ‘negative compatibility’—not only results in the nutrients themselves not being absorbed properly, but also may lead to reactions occurring the digestive tract which lead to increased illness, allergies, and other negative interactions.

It turns out that it’s the design of the multivitamins that is the flaw, and which must be taken into consideration with a sober perspective on human health if we are to create supplement products that are intelligent and safe.