The debate over the value of vitamin and mineral supplements is far from over, according to health experts from four top institutions.

According to experts at Oregon State University (OSU), the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Tufts University and the Harvard School of Public Health, vast majorities of people in the United States do not meet all of the guidelines for dietary intake of vitamins and minerals.

Together the four institutions narrowed down the deficiencies, reporting that more than 93 percent of Americans lack a sufficient amount of vitamin A, D, E, and magnesium and calcium.

“It’s naïve to ignore the fact that most people have micronutrient inadequacies, and wrong to condemn a daily supplement that could cover these nutritional gaps safely and at low cost,” said Balz Frei, professor and director of the OSU Linus Pauling Institute.

Health is priceless, according to the researchers involved in the debate who collectively agreed, “to label multivitamin and mineral supplements useless, harmful and a waste of money is wrong.”

For more information, visit http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/news/debate.html.