• HETN is at the forefront of exploring the relationship between nutrition and chronic disease.

• The human body needs sufficient nutrients for optimum health.

• Today, as a result of environmental degradation, farming methods, food processing and diet choices, there is a gap in the nutritional status of most people.

• In consequence, our immunity is compromised and chronic diseases are on the increase. In the West, people may be living longer but half of them have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug on a regular basis.

• This worldwide problem is extreme in Africa, where primary micronutrient deficiencies are widespread and severe.

• Fortification or supplementation of a defective diet with micronutrients in the form of chemical isolates is now commonplace, but this cannot solve the problem because they are often toxic, they are poorly absorbed and they rarely act in the body in the way nature intended.