You are feeling a little snotty, so you make a pilgrimage to the supplement altar at your local pharmacy. Before you, an array of brightly coloured bottles of pills promises you health, happiness and fabulous skin. Dazzled by the brilliance of the pills you tentatively reach for one bottle. And then another. And another.

By the time you reach the till you have a basket full of bottles containing everything from Vitamin C to the extract of a mysterious and unpronounceable plant. And by the time you've left the shop, you need to take out a second mortgage on your house to cover your bill.

No surprises then that the global wellness industry is pegged to become the next trillion-dollar industry. Sure, you could boycott it, but you do so at your own peril. That vitamin and mineral supplementation is beneficial to your health has been proven time and again.

In his book 'Food is Better Medicine than Drugs', renowned nutrition expert Patrick Holford says, "no one has ever died from taking a multivitamin and every major survey yet undertaken has shown that those who supplement their diet live longer, feel better and are less likely to get sick".

But surely you can get all that natural goodness from your food?

"The world has become nutritionally devoid and, therefore, supplementation has become a necessity," says NeutriPure Chief Executive Roy Henderson, citing pesticides, cold storage and the mass production of food as causes of this degradation.

We may eat enough to stave off the hunger, but we're eating quantity not quality. We're bulking up on fast food when we should be snacking on organic fruit and veggies and because of this we have significant vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Nutritional supplements enable you to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to your health. Instead of plying your body with medicine when you get sick, you should keep your body balanced and strengthen your immune system so that you don't get sick.

Decisions, decisions

Deciding that you need a nutritional supplement is the easy part. Figuring out which one you should be taking is a whole different matter.

In South Africa, medicines are controlled by the Medical Control Council and have to meet certain requirements. However, something is only regarded as a medicine if it claims to prevent or treat a particular illness or if it contains a scheduled substance.

Supplements, therefore, are largely unregulated. There is limited legislation which dictates specific parameters for labelling, but it is rarely enforced. This means that, as the consumer, you have no way of knowing whether the product is actually what it promises to be on the label.

So, do some research — check out the big names in the industry — such as Solgar, Vital or Bioharmony — and find out what their manufacturing practices are and whether they are affiliated to any international regulatory bodies.

Good manufacturing practices involve approved procedures, quality control testing and approval at all stages, records of testing, monitoring of the manufacturing environment and the training of personnel.

What do you need?

Now, about that basket full of bottles…

"Supplement companies are ultimately in the business of making money," says Henderson. This means that if X needs to be taken with Y, they will sell you X and Y in two different bottles instead of creating a single XY supplement.

It helps therefore to have a vague idea about what you are looking for when you approach the vitamin counter. Patrick Holford gives the following advice on his website:

You need to take a combination of vitamins and minerals to meet your daily requirements — a high potency multivitamin, a multi-mineral, extra Vitamin C, extra anti-oxidants and essential fatty acids.

The multivitamin should contain: Vitamin A (7500iu), Vitamin D (400iu), Vitamin E (100iu), Vitamin C (250mg), Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 (25mg each), Vitamin B12 (10mcg), folic acid (200mcg) and biotin (50mcg).

The multi-mineral should cover: calcium (300mg), magnesium (150mg), iron (10mg), zinc (10mg), manganese (2.5mg), chromium (20mcg) and selenium (25mcg).

Your Vitamin C booster should provide around 1800mg of vitamin C — it takes around 5g a day before Vitamin C causes diarrhoea. An anti-oxidant supplement should contain vitamins A, C and E, beta-carotene, zinc and selenium. Finally, you need to take both omega 3 (flax seed oil or fish oil) and omega 6 (evening primrose oil) to cover your essential fatty acid requirements.

Useful websites:

Medical Control Council
Patrick Holford
NeutriPure
Solgar
Bioharmony
Vital