Vitamins For DummiesChristopher Hobbs and Elson Haas take a complicated field and make sense of it. Ron Lawrence, MD, PhD, Director, Council on Natural Nutrition Dont forget to take your vitamins! Its good advice. But everybodys needs are different. Age, lifestyle, gender, ethnicity, diet, and habits all play a role in determining which vitamins and minerals you need more or less of in your diet. Like traffic lights, vitamins help regulate your bodys most basic functions