Do you believe in vitamin supplements?

Last week I read about a study that basically said vitamin supplements really don't do much. They don't help prevent cancer or illnesses or boost your body's immune system or provide your body with any benefit. It was a really, really big study that followed thousands of people and was supposed to be the ultimate verdict on vitamin effectiveness. I wish I could find the article, but when I Googled it I found about 13 million articles debunking vitamins. It goes without saying that the best way for people to stay healthy is to get all of their vitamins and nutrients through eating a variety of whole foods. We all know that, right? But how many of us are really eating a super perfect healthy diet everyday? Particularly in the winter if you are trying to avoid food that's been shipped from distant lands (as I am, though not always successfully). That's when I've been hoping the vitamin supplements do their job. To supplement my diet, hence the name.

Some are better than others as any guru in the vitamin department will tell you. And I believe that the good ones are adding some positive value to my health, so I will continue to take them: a multi-vitamin, a couple of calcium capsules and a nice, hearty swig of lemon-flavored cod liver oil fortified with vitamin D. (Oh I love that last one. It's like swallowing a bit of sunshine. I mean, haven't you read in every single magazine that EVERYONE is low on vitamin D? Particularly here in the sun-starved Northwest.) Maybe I'm kidding myself, and maybe the power of placebo-thinking is working. Overall I'm pretty healthy, knock on wood, but my diet is sorely lacking in veggies and fruits most winter days. We eat waaay less fruit in winter because it comes from so far away. I got burned out on cold storage apples and pears a couple of months ago, and I get tired of eating the same veggies. The kids can handle daily doses of carrot sticks. Me not so much. This is when it is glaringly obvious that I must do better to preserve the summer bounty.

Are you taking supplements? (Are we just kidding ourselves?) Or do you make the effort to meet all of your nutritional needs through a healthy diet? And how do you do this in the winter?