The New Scoop On Vitamins

It's raining. Flooding, to be precise. But business is as brisk as ever at Mrs. Gooch's natural-foods market in West Los Angeles. As usual, traffic is backed up along Palms Boulevard as drivers wait for a spot in the store's parking lot. Inside, crowds jam the supplement section, which gleams with row upon row of small, white-capped vials. Here the true believers in the gospel of vitamins linger over labels, comparing brand names and dosages, trading health sermons and nutritional arcana. They discuss the relative merits of Buffered C and Lysine, as opposed to Bio-C Plus Rose Hips, or perhaps Bio-...