Myth: Taking supplements and breaking foods down into nutritional components is just as good as eating them whole.

The truth is there's no shortcut to good eating.

Nutrients are most potent when they come straight from food and aren't broken down into powders and capsules.

There's another great benefit to eating foods whole, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

"They are accompanied by many nonessential but beneficial nutrients, such as hundreds of carotenoids, flavonoids, minerals, and antioxidants that aren't in most supplements," Clifford Lo, an associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a recent blog post.

People who hail from the world's Blue Zones, areas where people tend to live to about 100 years old while happy and disease-free, have known this for centuries. They eat a diet rich in beans, whole grains, and lots of fresh vegetables.

Because the supplement industry is barely regulated in the US, it's also nearly impossible to know exactly what's in the pills you're taking.