July 10, 2015 general

As a follow-up to the discussion in last week’s program about supplement basics, I started out to just give one of the following tidbits. However, I found that the same researcher had reported several studies which were interesting and relevant.

• Vitamin D deficiency predicts cognitive decline in older men and women. And here is the Vitamin D for memory–test results shocker -a study found that in mentally normal elderly subjects, vitamin D blood levels (25OHD) below 75 nmol/L were already predictive of global cognitive dysfunction after 4.4 years. STUDY   So much for the blood test forms that show anything over 30 as “normal”! This study doesn’t prove that supplements will help, but there are only two ways to raise blood levels and the other one is sunbathing.
• Daily magnesium oxide supplementation (not even the best source) for 12 wks seemed to improve physical performance in healthy elderly women and suggest a role for magnesium supplementation in preventing or delaying the age-related decline in physical performance. STUDY   Given that magnesium is important for heart health, brain function, energy, regularity, immune function, bone health and many other aspects of health, the case is strong for supplementing this mineral.
• A study of 286 healthy women older than 65 years of age concluded that the current RDAs are adequate for older women’s intake of B-2, vitamin B-6, and folic acid, but should be raised for vitamin B-12 and for vitamin C. STUDY   Moreover, studies like these are typically looking at adequate, not optimum levels which become apparent over time.
• A 10-year follow-up of successfully aging elderly people found that multivitamin supplementation may be necessary, even in healthy individuals, to avoid subclinical malnutrition. STUDY  “Subclinical” means that it doesn’t show up in a visit to the doctor’s office, but then the vast majority of physicians are not trained to look for subtle signs of nutrient insufficiency.

I think it is clear that we are better off to just ignore the naysayers who claim that we get everything we need from food and that supplements are wasted money.