Nope. This comes from the fact that when you do proper studies about overdosing (which is what you do with needless supplementation) various micronutrients you find that it is at best useless and at worst harmful.
You slipped your conclusion into a premise, when you called it "needless supplementation". That's not what we're talking about; the goal here is to find which compounds, specifically, do need to be supplemented. And I think it ought to go without saying that if you overdose on anything harmful, you're doing it wrong.
Basically, nutrition and supplementation is really complex. If you try to take supplements without engaging with that complexity then you might get hurt; but if you do engage the complexity, you can achieve great benefits.
if you do engage the complexity, you can achieve great benefits
Surely the question is whether you can reduce the uncertainty enough (about nutrition in general and your own metabolism in particular) that it starts beating "eat like a sane person"?
(Original Post: Announcing the Quantified Health Prize)
I've recently been hired by Personalized Medicine, a new research company trying to bring Less Wrongian rationality to the medical world. We're giving away a $5000 prize for well-researched, well-reasoned presentations that answer the following question: What are the best recommendations for what quantities adults (ages 20-60) should take the important dietary minerals in, and what are the costs and benefits of various amounts?
Entries are now due by January 15th, 2012. This is an update from the original date of December 31st, 2011. However, we will not change this deadline again, and it will be strictly enforced. If you submit your entry on January 16 at 12:01 AM Pacific time, we will not read it.
Why enter the contest? If you have an excellent entry, even if you don’t win the grand prize, you can still win one of four additional cash prizes, you’ll be under consideration for a job as a researcher with our company Personalized Medicine, and you’ll get a leg up in the larger contest we plan to run after this one. You also get to help people get better nutrition and stay healthier.
More info about the contest, and instructions for submitting entries, can be found at the contest website at http://www.medicineispersonal.com/contest/home. Good luck!