Supplements for Seniors: Older Americans Often Benefit from Daily Supplements

As we age, our bodies don't assimilate vitamins and minerals as well as they once did. Many older Americans also suffer chronic disorders and digestive problems that lead to malabsorption. This makes nutritional supplements all the more important.

Are you Deficient?
One study of senior citizens finds that 90 percent have inadequate levels of vitamin A, B vitamins, C, calcium, and iron. Others are deficient in vitamin D, which can lead to weakened bones, or vitamin B12, which causes neurological problems. Symptoms of B12 deficits include lack of balance and coordination, memory loss, mood changes, and disorientation that can be misinterpreted as signs of senility. Anyone over 60 years of age can benefit from supplemental B12. One of the best sources is brewer's yeast.

Severe vitamin D deficiency, which can cause rickets in children, may lead to a similar condition called osteomalacia in adults. Loss of appetite, diarrhea, insomnia, problems with vision, and weight loss may signal less severe deficiency. The elderly are especially at risk since they may be confined and not get exposure to sunlight in order for the skin to synthesize vitamin D. People in the northern one-third of the US are also at risk for low levels of D because of limited sunlight during the winter months.

Folate, another B vitamin, protects against homocysteine, which damages DNA and has been implicated in heart disease. To protect against homocysteine, experts recommend taking folate along with vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. Because high levels of supplemental B6 can lead to numbness in the fingers and toes, therapeutic use of vitamins (beyond what's found in most multivitamin formulas) requires professional supervision from a healthcare provider trained in nutrition for seniors.

Take Action Against Aging
While you can't stop the birthdays every year, most experts agree: You can lessen the effects of free radicals (highly charged unstable substances in the body), which cause aging. Short one electron, free radicals swipe what they're missing from healthy cells. "Aging is an accumulation of random damage to the building blocks of life-especially to DNA, certain proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids [fats]-that begins early in life and eventually exceeds the body's self-repair capabilities," explains anti aging researcher Leonard Hayflick, PhD, at the University of California, Berkeley.

Produced by toxic substances and smoking, free radicals also occur with normal bodily functions including energy production at the cellular level. Approximately 10 percent of the air we breathe turns into free radicals. In just a day, one human cell gets 10,000 free-radical hits. You can't prevent them, but you can fight back.

The human body produces antioxidants to deactivate free radicals. But this process becomes less effective as we grow older. A diet rich in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, as well as herbs and spices, offers more of the antioxidants we need.

Smart Supplements
Start every day with a multivitamin and mineral formula that contains:

• Vitamin A, natural beta carotene, and other carotenoids (like lutein that helps protect the retinas of the eyes and lycopene that helps protect cardiovascular and prostate health)
• Complete vitamin B complex, essential for absorption of nutrients and nervous system function
• Vitamin C, a potent antioxidant that supports the immune system and fights free radical damage
• Vitamin E (natural d-alpha-tocopherol, not synthetic dl-alpha) that fights aging at the cellular level, especially protecting your eyesight and mental functioning
• Antioxidant minerals, including selenium and zinc.

Also important as we grow older is coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, which works as an electron donor helping to fight free radicals at the cellular level. In addition, this antioxidant specifically protects the heart. Anyone taking statin drugs needs CoQ10 daily, since these cholesterol-lowering medications block the synthesis of this important coenzyme in the body.

Protecting the heart and brain while fighting arthritis, omega-3 fatty acid capsules can be taken daily with meals. Look for omega 3s from fish oil (certified free of mercury and other heavy metals) or flaxseed oil. Also, glucosamine and chondroitin support your bones and alleviate the pain and joint destruction in arthritis.

Finally, make sure you're getting plenty of calcium and magnesium (a 2:1 ratio of these bone-strengthening minerals) to prevent age-related bone loss. In addition, look for supplements that contain vitamin D and boron, also critical in bone health.

selected sources The Anti-Aging Solution by Vincent Giampapa, MD; Ronald Pero, PhD; and Marcia Zimmerman, CN ($24.95, Wiley, 2004) } Before the Heart Attacks by H. Robert Superko, MD, FACC, FAHA, with Laura Tucker ($14, Penguin Group/Plume, 2004) } 1,001 Health Secrets by Betty Kamen, PhD ($23.95, Nutrition Encounter, 2003) } Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, and James F. Balch, MD ($23.95, Penguin Group/Avery, 2000) } A Woman's Guide to a Healthy Heart by Carol Simontacchi, CCN, MS, and Frances E. FitzGerald ($14.95, Contemporary Books, 2004)