Nutrients That Support Everyday Health & Immunity

Nearly one in four Australians has vitamin D levels below the threshold for sufficiency, and close to three quarters of Australian women don't get enough iron or folate from food alone. Yet most of us are going about our busy days without giving our nutritional foundations a second thought — until we hit a wall of fatigue, or find ourselves feeling run-down through the cooler months.

The good news? Supporting everyday health and immunity doesn't require an overhaul of your entire lifestyle. It starts with understanding which key nutrients your body actually needs, where the gaps commonly appear, and how a high-quality supplement routine featuring wholefoods can help fill them.

Let's take a look at the nutrients that matter most.

Why Is Everyday Nutrition the Foundation of Immune Health?

Your immune system isn't a single organ; it's a complex, body-wide network that runs constantly in the background, and it needs a steady supply of nutrients to do its job. Whilst the best source of nutrition comes from foods, the research shows Australians do not always meet the recommended daily requirements from diet alone. When dietary gaps open up (and for a lot of Australians, they do), the whole system can feel the impact. Complementary Medicines Australia's 2023 Industry Audit found that 70% of Australians use complementary medicines, including vitamins and minerals, at some point. The ABS Australian Health Survey confirms the concern is warranted: across the population, multiple key nutrients fall consistently short of Estimated Average Requirements.

What's striking about the Australian data isn't any single deficiency; it's the pattern. Vitamin D, iron, zinc and folate shortfalls often overlap in the same people: women of reproductive age, older adults, and those eating plant-forward diets without targeted supplementation. Addressing these gaps with a quality daily multivitamin isn't about “optimising” for elite performance; it's about filling the nutritional safety net that diet alone isn't reliably providing.

The Whole Earth & Sea® Multis range is built around exactly this idea, delivering essential vitamins and minerals alongside wholefood concentrates, grown on certified non-GMO, organic farms, to support immune system health, energy production and general wellbeing every day.

How Does Vitamin C Support Your Everyday Immune System?

Vitamin C is one of the most studied nutrients in immune science, and for good reason. A comprehensive review in Nutrients by Carr and Maggini (2017) explored how vitamin C plays a central role in the normal functioning of the immune system and acts as a powerful antioxidant to reduce free radical damage to body cells.

Vitamin C also works closely with other key nutrients. A well-established fact of nutritional science is that vitamin C supports the absorption of non-haem iron, the form found in plant foods, making it a valuable partner to the iron-containing formulas in the Whole Earth & Sea® range.

The NHMRC sets the adult Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) for vitamin C at 45 mg/day, with an upper safe level of 1,000 mg/day. Smokers need around an extra 35 mg per day.

Vitamin C is present in Whole Earth & Sea® Women's Multi and Men's Multi, formulas that contain wholefood ingredients and are designed to support immune system health and antioxidant protection every day.

Learn more about immune support supplements and the nutrients that matter most in cooler months.

Why Is Vitamin D Deficiency So Common in Australia?

It might seem counterintuitive in one of the world's sunniest countries, but vitamin D deficiency is a genuine public health concern in Australia. The ABS Australian Health Survey found that 23% of Australians (close to one in four) had vitamin D levels below the threshold for sufficiency. In winter and spring, that figure climbs to 36%.

The AIHW (2022) notes that indoor lifestyles, sun-safe behaviour (which is absolutely the right call for skin cancer prevention), covering clothing, and geographic latitude in southern states all contribute to this gap. In a meta-analysis published in the BMJ (Martineau et al., 2017), researchers examined vitamin D supplementation and its relationship with immune system health across 25 randomised controlled trials. Their findings supported what nutritional scientists had long hypothesised: vitamin D plays an important role in normal immune system function, and populations with very low levels are at particular risk of insufficient immune support.

The NHMRC sets the adult RDI for vitamin D at 600 IU (15 mcg)/day for adults under 70, rising to 800 IU for adults 70+.

The Whole Earth & Sea® range includes vitamin D in forms appropriate for each life stage, supporting immune system health, bone health and healthy calcium absorption.

Explore our daily wellness supplements to see how vitamin D fits into a complete daily routine.

Is Zinc the Immune Mineral You've Been Overlooking?

Zinc is one of those nutrients that quietly underpins a staggering number of biological processes, including those that build and activate the cells of the immune system. Inadequate zinc intake is known to impair immune function, and even mild shortfalls, quite common in the general population, can affect the body's normal immune responses.

Nutritional research by Prasad et al. (2008) examined the role of zinc in immune health in a review published in Molecular Medicine, documenting its wide-ranging importance to normal immune system function. A comprehensive review by Wessels and colleagues in Nutrients (2017) further documented zinc's role in supporting normal immune function, contributing to the growing evidence base for adequate daily intake.

The ABS Australian Health Survey found that approximately 8% of Australians have zinc intakes below the Estimated Average Requirement, with higher rates among older adults and those with limited red meat intake. Plant-forward diets can be lower in zinc bioavailability due to the presence of phytates in wholegrains and legumes, though fermentation and sprouting significantly reduce this effect (more on that in Section 6).

Zinc features in Whole Earth & Sea® Women's Multi and Men's Multi, supporting immune system health and antioxidant defence.

Which Nutrients Power Your Energy Every Day?

Energy is one of those things you only really notice when it's missing. If you've been waking up tired, struggling to get through the afternoon, or feeling mentally foggy, a shortfall in B-vitamins or iron may be contributing; these are the two nutrient groups most directly tied to how your body generates and uses energy.

Are You Getting Enough B-vitamins?

B-vitamins, particularly B6, B12, folate, riboflavin and niacin, are essential cofactors in the metabolic pathways your body uses to produce energy from food. Kennedy's 2016 review in Nutrients documented how B-vitamins support cellular energy metabolism and overall wellbeing. Without adequate B-vitamins, energy levels and general wellbeing can both suffer.

Vegans, older adults (who produce less intrinsic factor needed for B12 absorption), and those taking certain medications are at highest risk of falling short of daily vitamin B12 requirements.

Vitamin B6 is involved in a wide range of enzymatic reactions, including those linked to energy production, and can be lacking in certain populations.

Folate, essential for pregnancy, stands out particularly for Australian women: the AHS found that 73% of women aged 14–50 have folate intakes below the EAR from diet alone.

Iron: One of Australia's Most Common Nutritional Gaps

Inadequate iron intake is among the most common nutritional gaps in Australia, particularly for women of reproductive age. The ABS found 73% of Australian women aged 14–50 have iron intakes below the Estimated Average Requirement. Iron is essential for producing the proteins that carry oxygen throughout the body, and for supporting the energy production your cells rely on every day. When iron is low, everything feels harder.

Whole Earth & Sea® Women's Multi delivers the full B-complex as well as iron to support energy levels and general wellbeing daily.

Looking for high-quality vitamins for energy? Here's how to choose the right daily formula for your life stage.

Why Does the Source of Your Nutrients Matter?

Not all supplements are created equal. The Whole Earth & Sea® philosophy is rooted in something the nutrition research increasingly supports: that nutrients from wholefood sources, delivered alongside their natural cofactors, enzymes and phytonutrients, are recognised and used by the body differently.

Research into wholefood-sourced vitamin C suggests that co-occurring bioflavonoids from plant sources such as acerola may support absorption and extend antioxidant activity in the body, an area of active investigation in the nutrition literature.

And then there's fermentation. Whole Earth & Sea® Fermented, Organic Protein & Greens harnesses the power of fermented plant proteins such as rice and pea, a process that research shows can improve mineral bioavailability by reducing phytates and other compounds that otherwise limit absorption. Marco and colleagues' review in Current Opinion in Biotechnology (2017) noted that fermentation can increase folate content through microbial synthesis, improve protein digestibility, and generate bioactive peptides with antioxidant properties.

For anyone eating predominantly plant-based or looking to reduce dairy and meat, a fermented plant protein with a greens complex is a smart way to shore up the nutrients most likely to run short.

The greens complex, including ingredients like spirulina, barley grass, and wheatgrass, contributes concentrated phytonutrients, carotenoids (precursors to vitamin A), chlorophyll and other plant nutrients. Lobo and colleagues (2010) documented the role of dietary antioxidants, including those found in plant foods, in supporting the body's free radical defences.

What sets the Whole Earth & Sea® Fermented, Organic Protein & Greens apart is the combination: complete plant protein, fermented rice and pea proteins for digestibility, alongside a concentrated greens blend, including select ingredients grown on Factors Farms® certified non-GMO farms. It's the kind of daily nutritional foundation that food alone, in a busy modern life, rarely delivers consistently.

Discover our range of supplements for immunity and nutrition.

How to Build a Daily Wellness Routine with Nutrients That Support Everyday Health

Supporting everyday health and immunity doesn't mean taking a handful of individual supplements every morning. It means making sure the key nutrient foundations are covered consistently.

A quality daily multivitamin can address certain nutrients most Australians are falling short on: vitamin D (below sufficiency threshold for 23–36% of the population), vitamin C (for antioxidant and immune function), zinc (for immune system health), B-vitamins (for energy levels), and iron (particularly important for women).

Pair that with a fermented wholefood protein and greens supplement, and you're building a nutritional foundation that works with your body's own systems, every single day.

A quality multivitamin can be a great first step towards feeling your best, and Whole Earth & Sea® makes it simple with options tailored to your life stage: Women's Multi, Men's Multi, Women's 50+ Multi, and Men's 50+ Multi.

Explore the full range at wholeearthsea.com.au.

*References available on request.