system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do you need to eat any fruits, vegetables, etc. when as far as I can tell you can get all the vitamins and minerals you need from supplements and multivitamins?

I understand that you can't eat a ton of junk food and expect to stay healthy just by taking multivitamins, but I honestly don't see why anyone needs to eat, for instance, broccoli ever again when they can just take a multivitamin. So I guess is there any benefit the actual food gives you (besides calories) that the vitamin doesn't?
gpt
Vitamins are substances that the body doesn't produce, which are necessary for life.  As in, if you don't get them, you die.  Now, making sure you *only* take the pills that prevent you from dying, seems like a pretty damn low bar, doesn't it?  That's like the bare minimum: "don't die".

There are millions of other organic compounds, many of which have never been studied, that may contribute to health in other ways.  Some may help avoid cancer, some may extend lifespan, some may lead to good cardiovascular health, and so on.  Today, eating fruits and vegetables (or rather, a balanced diet) is the only way to ingest these.  Maybe in the future, we can identify every organic compound necessary for a long, vibrant, and healthy life, and put it in pill form.  Today, however, we do not have that data.