Are vitamin supplements really necessary or just a recipe for expensive urine? Experts weigh in

We need vitamins. Our very existence depends on them. While science says that most of us can get what we need from a healthy wholefood diet, statistics show that few of us are convinced that's actually true: three-quarters of Australians take supplements, spending just shy of $2 billion on vitamins and minerals each year. But are they really worth it? Or are we handing over our hard-earned moolah for the privilege of generating brightly coloured pee?

"In theory, we should be getting everything we need from eating a healthy varied 'real food' diet," says Dr Clare Bailey, co-founder of The Fast 800 online programme, "but this is difficult for many of us to achieve."

Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Newcastle and leading researcher at Hunter Medical Research Institute, says the latest national nutrition survey proves just how tough we find a rainbow diet to be. "On average, we don't eat that great. About one-third of what Australians eat comes from ultra-processed foods, and two-thirds is something your grandparents would remember from the basic five food groups," says Professor Collins, who recommends a free personalised diet report as a way to identify your vitamin and mineral intake. "We reach for supplements as an insurance policy because the harder thing is to make day-to-day nutritional changes."