(MONEY Magazine) – This muscular vitamaniac is Nick Skouras, 40, a Seattle personal trainer who consumes $19,130 worth of supplements a year. That is enough money to feed a family of four for more than two years, according to the Department of Agriculture. It is also 436 times more than our experts say you should shell out each day to get the vitamins and minerals you need. What's more, experts say if you consumed what Nick does, you could be endangering your health.

Nick's intake begins at 7 a.m., with as many as 10 supplements, usually including goldenseal root and ginseng. Here's a rundown of just 20% of the supplements he consumes in 10 doses most days: 1,500mg of the amino acid L-carnitine, 60mg of the enzyme CoQ10, 8,050mg of chlorophyll, 400mg of the mineral chromium picolinate, 120mg of the herb saw palmetto and 150mg of the herb pygeum Africanum.

Total cost of Nick's supplements: $52.41 a day, though he gets them wholesale for about $26. Medical experts we consulted say Nick wastes 99% of that money. Worse, says Varro Tyler of Purdue University, "When he takes 2,200mg of the herb yohimbe, well, that much can raise the blood pressure, even lead to a stroke. And though some of the other things he takes will do no harm alone, we don't know what they may do when taken together."

Nick began taking supplements as part of a muscle-building program when he was a chubby teenager. Now five-nine and 220 pounds, with enough muscles for a family of four, he says: "What I take keeps me this way. As a personal trainer, I can't preach without this image. Sometimes when I consider the long-term effects, I think, what am I doing? But so far, I feel great."

--A.W.