I am gratified to read in a book by an internationally famous nutritionist that something I have been telling my friends and writing about for years has been confirmed.

Even with a healthy balanced diet, you will not get all the essential nutrients necessary to maintain your health. Perhaps you, like me, look forward to the regular articles in Argus Weekend by nuritionist Martina Watts and take her advice or, better still, attend her Brighton clinic.

My now-confirmed theory is that, even with a healthy diet, the body needs essential supplements in order to reach the optimum nutritional

levels research shows can provide a real defence against degenerative disease.

Almost no one dies of old age. We die because, lacking nutrients, our immune system is overwhelmed and fails to destroy the external invaders, such as bacteria and viruses, and internal threats, such as cancers and body organ malfunctions. Unless the body gets the essential nutrients for a healthy life, the immune system will not function.

The RDA (recommended daily allowance) of supplementary vitamin and minerals is not what most people think. It is, in fact, useless.

If a healthy lifestyle is sought, the RDA of that most popular of all anti-oxidants, Vitamin E, for instance, is given as 3Oiu daily, while research has shown the optimum daily dose is 200iu - nearly seven times as much. The same applies to many other vitamins and minerals.

There is one other essential to keep healthy - daylight. Without sufficient light, your body clock in the brain - the pineal gland - will malfunction. It indirectly controls all the other glands in the body.

-Doug Streeter, Saltdean Drive, Brighton