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Some of them are a waste of money but they are also a cheap insurance policy. Most women should take at least D, Calcium, and a multi. Men need a multi and D. Most of the people on the planet are D deficient and older people don't make D as well as younger people.
For me, the vitamins are worth the money. I am always dieting and I know I don't get everything I need from food. Just for example you need to drink 4 glasses of milk per day to get enough calcium. And that's 400 calories. At that point I wouldn't even be able to eat much else for the day. Those calcium pills save me 400 calories.
As we get older we don't absorb nutrients as well as we did when we were younger. I do think we need to take vitamins and minerals. We become low in Vitamin D and often B12 and zinc. B12 deficiency, I think can cause cognitive issues. Look it up--it's too late at night where I am.
Zinc deficiency is very common in older people and it accounts for the loss of sense of smell and taste. Also can fix restless leg syndrome if you are deficient.
Calcium citrate (not carbonate) if you are a woman, and magnesium glycinate or citrate to make it work. Magnesium is good for men too and it can help lower blood pressure.
My doctor told me to always buy good quality vitamins and minerals, not the drug store kind. I've seen the better brands in Walmart though.
Ideally, you should get tested by your doctor for deficiencies. They have a hard time testing for magnesium and zinc though so probably just trust that you are deficient because most older people are. I was tested one time and my magnesium was so low it was off the charts. (Tested within the CELL, not in the blood where is it almost always normal.)
dh's doctor tested him for vitamin D and so he takes it now and he also tested him for B12. This was a wonderful doctor, a gerontologist from Europe and I think he was ahead of his time. I've heard so many stories of people not absorbing the B12 and that happened to dh too. So I bought sublingual B12 and it worked--doesn't have to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Now his B12 level tests are normal.
I haven't read the article but I will. I get tired of these articles that tell people they don't need to take a vitamin and that it's just a waste of money. But they want you to take a prescription instead. I think my advice would be to ask you doctor and try to get them to test you. But don't expect them to know much about this subject. You have to do some research yourself--but the zinc (dr said zinc picolinate works best) and magnesium are usually going to be deficient even though they are not easy to be tested for.
I was tested one time and my magnesium was so low it was off the charts. (Tested within the CELL, not in the blood where is it almost always normal.)
I am curious about which doctor (GP? hematologist?) did your tests and what they tested for. I have never been able to take a multivitamin because if I do, it has always caused terrible heartburn if I take any for more than a couple of days in a row.... even the most basic "RDA only" dosages. And iron supplements have always triggered cystitis within 36 hours; my kidneys apparently cannot metabolize supplemental iron properly but are fine with iron that naturally occurs in food rather than being chemically added.
Because there's no way to pinpoint which elements of a typical multivitamin trigger my reflux problem, I can't take any. I was tested for Vitamin D about ten years ago and I was in single digits BUT.... I am also a kidney stone former and medical advice is that taking more than the basic RDA of 400 mg of supplemental D raises the risk of stone formation. Same risk for supplemental calcium but calcium in dairy products is okay and in fact is beneficial. Anyway, taking 400 mg of D only raises my D by a couple of points (for example from 6 to 8.) And to top it all off, I'm prone to PMLE (polymorphous light eruption) with is a form of photosensitivity and so sunbathing is out as well.
Sometimes ya just can't win, LOL
But I would be interested in being tested for specific deficiencies with a view toward taking ONLY a supplement for whatever I may be lacking. Taking a multivitamin is, in my case, like trying to shoot a gnat with an elephant gun
I’ve taken vitamins most of my life. Take multi and extra D. (Per drs recommendation). Take Areds for my eyes (have eye issues) and noticed floaters disappeared. Also a probiotic. On no medications.
I was just buying the cheap store brand and recently did some research and am buying a better brand.
I don’t eat a perfect diet so I feel better knowing I’m getting some needed nutrients.
I take about one a month or two. I make sure I eat plenty of fresh vegetables & fruits, & a variety of proteins. I do also drink a small glass everyday of kefir, for the probiotics. I take Niacin daily as my Dr said to, it helps lower triglycerides, & I also take a cherry extract, for arthritis.
Yes. I just tried an experiment and dropped some of my supplements- red yeast rice, green tea pills and fish oil- 6 months ago to see if they were doing anything. Just got the bloodwork back- triglycerides up (from 63 to 100), good cholesterol down (from 110 to 84, still not too shabby). Back on the supplements I go!
I also take calcium and magnesium for bone health- I have a little osteopenia despite daily cardio workouts.
I take a few Vitamins and mineral supplements. When I was younger, I didn't necessarily feel I needed them. But now with peri-menopause and a recent Dx of Diabetes 2, having researched these conditions, I take the one recommended for them. I am feeling considerably healthier also. As we age, we tend to need more help in the nutrition side of our lives.
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