Illustration by Hanoch Piven
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Smart Pills
By Sid Kirchheimer, January-February 2004
Read all about the essential vitamins and minerals you need now—and where to get them
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Let's get something straight right away: This isn't one of those
articles promising that there's a Fountain of Youth in this vitamin or that
mineral. We've been around long enough to know there's no such thing.
But what you do need to know is that many of the problems commonly associated
with aging can be prevented, if not completely eliminated, if you adjust your
nutritional intake to the needs of your changing body.
Speaking of changing bodies, did you know that with each passing birthday
the human stomach produces less hydrochloric acid needed to digest food and
properly absorb adequate amounts of certain key nutrients? By age 50, this
dwindling supply of acid causes a vitamin B-12 inadequacy in at least one in
four Americans; by age 75, it affects about 40 percent. What are the telltale
symptoms of getting too little vitamin B-12? Memory lapses. Joint pain.
Fatigue. Tingling hands and feet. Sounds a lot like aging, doesn't it?
"People often say, 'You're just getting old.' But many of the
classic signs of aging overlap with the symptoms of nutritional
inadequacy," says Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., of the Jean Mayer USDA Human
Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. "Just
because you feel that you're aging doesn't mean it's because
you're aging."
But don't go blaming your stomach for every midlife complaint. Fact is,
you may be coming up short in the vitamins department—just like millions
of others who have passed the half-century mark—even if you're eating
a perfect food pyramid.
So, how do you meet those needs? In many cases, a daily "senior
formula" multivitamin supplement is all you need to fill the void. In
other cases, even that multi may not be enough. Here's what you need to
know:
Vitamin B-12
We talked about the necessity of getting enough B-12. Here's a case
where that senior formula multivitamin has you covered. You can also get
additional B-12 in your diet by eating meat. But because this vitamin is
"bound" to protein (making it hard for your body to absorb), even if
you eat plenty of beef, chicken, and fish, it's hard to get enough B-12 by
diet alone.
Enough Iron Already
Many senior formulas contain no iron—with good reason. "Increased
iron is associated with a higher risk of heart disease," says Tufts
University vitamin expert Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D. "Once women stop
menstruating, they stop losing iron, and men have been storing it all
along." The daily requirement drops to one-third of levels required by
pregnant women, yet most people over 60 consume more than they need from their
diet and supplements. Advice: If your current daily multivitamin
includes iron, swap it for an iron-free brand.
Vitamin E
The most powerful of the so-called antioxidant nutrients, vitamin E is
crucial in preventing or minimizing the damage caused by molecules brought
about by smoking, pollutants, and radiation. These molecules, called free
radicals, contribute to heart disease, cancer—not to mention
wrinkling—and some 200 other diseases associated with aging.
Basically, vitamin E acts as armor—preventing these damaging molecules
from wreaking their havoc on healthy cells. "The problem is, after about
age 40 or 45, the body produces more free radicals and fewer natural
antioxidants to fight them," says researcher James Jessup, Ph.D., R.N., of
the University of Florida College of Nursing. Unfortunately, vitamin E is also
the hardest antioxidant to get from diet alone. Unless you eat two entire
bunches of spinach each day or enough nuts to qualify as a squirrel, you may
not be getting enough E for it to be effective.
What to do: Supplement your diet with between 200 and 400 IUs
(international units) of E daily in addition to your multivitamin. Jessup
reports in Biological Research for Nursing that a daily vitamin E
supplement helped healthy seniors slash in half their levels of a blood marker
that indicates free-radical damage.
Calcium and Vitamin D
This mineral-vitamin combination is the single best dietary method of
preventing osteoporosis, a condition in which the bones become more porous and
brittle. Vitamin D needs to be taken with calcium in order for calcium to be
properly absorbed into your body. But after grade school, few of us drink the
four to five glasses of milk each day that contain enough of both nutrients to
guard against bone loss and fracture—which may explain why most older
Americans aren't getting the 1,200 milligrams of calcium and 400 IUs of
vitamin D they should get each day (a single glass of vitamin D-fortified milk
contains one quarter of these daily needs).
What to do: In addition to your daily multivitamin, take a calcium
supplement that contains vitamin D (amounts of each vary by product, so check
labels). Tip: Supplements made with calcium carbonate, the most common and
least expensive type, should be consumed with a meal, while calcium citrate and
calcium gluconate pills go down easy even on an empty stomach.
Fish Oil
The omega-3 fatty acids—commonly known as fish oil—have made
headlines for helping to prevent heart disease. But they are a prized catch for
other reasons: Memory loss, depression, and even learning problems can result
from a deficiency in omega-3s, while high amounts may ease digestive woes,
inhibit cancerous tumors, help prevent Alzheimer's, and relieve pain and
inflammation.
People say, "You're just getting old." But
you may be coming up short in the vitamins department.
Yes, you heard that right, studies suggest fish oil can take a big bite out
of arthritis pain. "You can get a similar rate of relief from fish oil
capsules as you can from aspirin, ibuprofen, and other anti-inflammatory
medications without the gastrointestinal problems," says John Klippel,
M.D., medical director of the Arthritis Foundation.
What to do: For starters, eat more seafood. You'll maintain or
improve heart health with at least two servings of salmon or mackerel a week.
But eating fish alone won't do the trick. Many of the documented
disease-fighting benefits derived from fish oil have come as a result of taking
concentrate supplements of about 1,000 milligrams.
Selenium
A stalwart antioxidant, selenium protects healthy cells from free-radical
damage that can cause heart disease, arthritis, and various forms of cancer.
While selenium is present in most plants—and in the animals that eat
them—the amount you consume from these sources varies, depending on where
the crops were grown and how much they're refined. Consequently, it's
pretty much a crapshoot whether or not you're getting enough—and the
odds stack up even higher against you if you have digestive problems such as
Crohn's disease.
What to do: Nothing beyond taking that daily multivitamin. But read
the label carefully. Some senior formulas have less than the 200 microgram dose
recommended for boosting immunity in people over age 50. (Men need to pay
special attention to dosage: At 200 mcg, selenium is believed to reduce the
risk of prostate cancer.)
Lutein
This nutrient acts like a pair of sunglasses, shielding your eyes from the
hazards of ultraviolet light that lead to cataracts and macular degeneration.
"But more recently, there's also evidence that lutein may reduce the
risk of heart disease and some cancers," says Blumberg.
What to do: Hit the greens. There's no RDA (recommended daily
allowance) for lutein, and its best food sources are collard greens, kale, and
spinach. But people taking the anticoagulant Coumadin or who have a history of
clotting problems should check with their doctor before increasing these
greens, because they affect clotting. An alternative: egg yolks, another
lutein-loaded food (though there's that little matter of cholesterol). Or
look for a multivitamin that contains about 250 micrograms of lutein (some
formulas contain none).
Magnesium
A multipurpose mineral, magnesium is required for some 300 different bodily
functions, including keeping your heart rhythm steady, maintaining normal
muscle and nerve function, and metabolizing food into energy. It's
especially important for older Americans for another reason: "Magnesium,
like vitamin D, also works with calcium for bone strength," says Sue
Moores, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson and St. Paul, Minnesota,
registered dietician who specializes in age-related nutrition.
What to do: Pretend it's Halloween. Two handfuls of dried pumpkin
seeds contain nearly all of the 320 milligrams needed by women each day, and
about three-fourths of the 420 milligrams required for men. Magnesium is also
abundant in nuts, legumes, rice bran, and other whole grains, and even some
antacids. Along with a daily multivitamin, a few servings each week of these
magnesium-rich foods can prevent deficiency in most people.
Zinc
Along with stimulating the activity of about a hundred different enzymes to
strengthen immunity, heal wounds, and prevent infection, zinc is critical for
keeping your sense of taste sharp as you age. "And many seniors have a
diminished sense of taste," says Moores. The majority of aging women and
nearly half of men fail to get the RDA of 8 to 11 milligrams of zinc.
What to do: Make the world your oyster. A single oyster contains
about eight milligrams of zinc. If you prefer land critters, a six-ounce
serving of beef, lamb, or pork contains your daily requirement, while nuts,
cereals, and wheat germ are also good sources. As for supplements, most
multivitamins contain the daily requirements for zinc. So, for insurance,
it's a good idea to take that multi for your zinc needs.
Sid Kirchheimer wrote "10 Power Foods"
for the September-October 2003 issue of AARP The Magazine.
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