I agree, there should be a reason for megadosing. Doing it for its own sake would be strange. You made a good point about nutients in the soil being depleted. There have been studies on this at various times over the past century, and one was published recently that showed that some of the main fruit and veg we eat have only half of the vitamins and minerals in them that they did a generation ago. They contained still more before that. I think that's frightening, and a good reason to supplement whether a person is ill or healthy. I also think there's good evidence that the optimum vitamin C intake for people is a few grams a day, and that's simply impossible to get from a modern diet.

And you're right, people who are ill/toxic/damaged can indeed benefit from megadosing, as long as the supplements are chosen well. I know, for example, that pharmaceuticals deplete the body's nutrition reserves. You might be interested in having a look at that Doctor Yourself site as it lists many common illnesses, and suggests various holistic, nutritional and orthomolecular approaches to healing them. Dr. Abram Hoffer, editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, has had a lot of success in treating schizophrenia with megadoses of vitamin C and niacin.

Ideally we'd all get all the nutrients we need from our diets but sadly I think that's difficult for anyone living in the western world. Even fish, one of the healthiest foods it was once possible to eat, is now so contaminated that it's better to avoid most of it and supplement with high quality fish oil instead.

Having said all that, I'm doing everything I can to feel better and I feel like hell tonight. Damn mercury. We can support our bodies with all these things but when the problem is a toxin, the only thing that will really help is for the toxin to come out. I wish there were a way to measure how much I've got rid of and how much is left because it feels like I'm losing the battle with SAD this winter.