Vitamins vs. minerals
As you age, the amount of vitamins and minerals your body needs to function at its best changes.
Vitamins are essential micronutrients that come from plants or animals and that your body needs in small amounts each day. Some examples of vitamins include:
— Vitamin A
— B vitamins
— Vitamin D
The minerals needed by the body also help it to function properly, but minerals come from the soil and water, not plants and animals. Your body needs all types of vitamins, but not all types of minerals. Examples of minerals your body needs include:
— Calcium
— Potassium
Vitamin and mineral requirements for older adults
As a person ages, changes in the body require different levels of vitamins and minerals. Some reasons include:
— Absorption. Your body isn’t able to absorb or process vitamins and minerals as quickly as when you were younger.
— Medications. Certain medications used more commonly among older adults may change the way your body absorbs or interacts with certain vitamins and minerals. For example, proton pump inhibitors, which are a common type of medication used for heartburn, may lower your absorption of vitamin B12, calcium and iron, as well as other nutrients.
— Diet. You may be eating less than before because you don’t feel as hungry. This could be due to a lower metabolism or food tasting differently because your sense of taste is diminishing, says Chicago-based Melissa Prest, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The ability to taste salty and sweet flavors are often the first tastes that are lost, making a lot of food taste blander. Losing a sense of taste is common with age, but it’s still something you should mention to a health care provider to rule out other causes for it, such as sinus problems or effects from certain medications.
— Food access. Access to food sometimes becomes more difficult with age due to mobility or economic challenges, which may mean that older adults are not able to get fresh produce or enough nutritious food.
Multivitamins for older adults
Dietary supplements boost a healthy diet but don’t replace it, says Colleen M. Chiariello, assistant chief dietitian at Northport VA Hospital in Northport, New York.
Multivitamins are a type of dietary supplement that contain a mix of vitamins and minerals. While there are multivitamins formulated for older adults, you may be wondering whether that means you should use a multivitamin as you get older to meet your nutritional needs.
A multivitamin may be appropriate if you’re not able to eat a variety of foods to obtain your vitamins and minerals or if you don’t have good guidance on what you should be eating to stay healthy.
“Depending on your age and health, you may need a multivitamin that has higher amounts of certain nutrients,” Prest says.
If you can’t obtain everything your body needs from your diet, then your doctor or a registered dietitian may recommend certain vitamin or mineral supplements to help correct a deficiency.
Here are some vitamins and minerals your body may need in your 60s and 70s.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 helps your body form red blood cells and assists with nerve function. As you get older, you may absorb less B12 because of age-related inflammation of the stomach lining.
In fact, B12 deficiency is common in older adults, as well as vegans and people who’ve had part of their stomach or intestine removed, such as for certain weight loss surgeries.
Having a low B12 level can put you at a higher risk for heart disease and cognitive impairment. Signs of B12 deficiency include:
— Anemia
— Lowered appetite
— Tingling of the hands and feet
The recommended daily allowance of vitamin B12 for adults of any age is 2.4 micrograms per day.
Some good food sources for vitamin B12 include:
— Animal products
— Fortified grains and cereals
— Fortified plant-based milk, such as soy, almond or rice milk
— Nutritional yeast
— Nuts and seeds
You can also incorporate a vitamin B12 supplement if your doctor suggests.
Calcium
Calcium is crucial for bone health. As you get older, you can be at higher risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures from falls. Adequate calcium can help offset this risk.
The RDA for calcium is 1,000 milligrams per day for males ages 51 to 70 and 1,200 milligrams per day for females ages 51 to 70 and all adults over age 70.
You may naturally think of dairy foods as a major calcium source, but there are a number of plant-based foods that also are good calcium sources, says registered dietitian Amylee Amos, founder of the Amos Institute.
Food sources for calcium include:
— Dairy products
— Eggs
— Green, leafy vegetables
— Firm tofu or soy processed with calcium
— Nondairy milks that are fortified with calcium
Vitamin D
Like calcium, vitamin D helps support bone health. Vitamin D also helps the body absorb calcium and supports your immune system. You can get vitamin D both from food and from sun exposure.
However, your body’s ability to convert vitamin D so it can be used efficiently decreases with age, Prest says. Additionally, some older adults get less sun exposure than they did at a younger age.
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with:
— A higher risk for fractures
— Muscle weakness
— Osteoporosis
— Rapid bone loss
The RDA for vitamin D is 600 IU (15 micrograms) a day for adults 51 to 70 years old and 800 IU (20 micrograms) daily for those over age 70. Neither group should exceed 4,000 IU (100 micrograms) a day of vitamin D. Too much vitamin D can lead to serious kidney problems, Amos says.
The American Academy of Dermatology advises people to get their vitamin D from food sources, not the sun.
Food food sources for vitamin D include:
— Egg yolks
— Fatty fish such as salmon
— Milk and milk products fortified with vitamin D
— Cereals fortified with vitamin D
Magnesium
Many older adults are deficient in magnesium, which helps your muscles function properly and assists nerve function and blood sugar levels.
The RDA of magnesium for all adults is 420 milligrams per day for men and 320 milligrams per day for women.
Food sources for magnesium include:
— Breakfast cereals
— Green, leafy vegetables
— Legumes
— Nuts and seeds
Potassium
Potassium benefits your body in many ways, from heart health to kidney function to nerve transmission. Getting too little potassium can raise your risk of kidney stones, deplete calcium and increase your blood pressure.
Some people have trouble getting enough potassium, including those with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Some older adults may actually have higher potassium levels due to the use of certain medications, such as ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers, both of which are used for high blood pressure.
The RDA for potassium is 3,400 milligrams for male adults and 2,600 milligrams for female adults.
Some foods rich in potassium include:
— Fruits such as bananas, prunes and raisins
— Fish, meat and poultry
— Nuts and seeds
— Fruits and vegetables like broccoli, spinach, acorn squash, avocado and tomatoes
Supplements for memory and joint health
While we all would love a magical elixir to help improve our memory and brain health, there’s no research now to show that supplements are better than a food-first approach to maintain or improve memory, Prest says.
As for joint health supplements, the Arthritis Foundation calls attention to a couple of supplements that may improve arthritis symptoms when used along with traditional treatments:
— Curcurmin
— Fish oil
— Glucosamine and chondroitin
— S-adenosyl-methionine
Always discuss supplement use with your health care team, and talk to a registered dietitian about obtaining nutrients from the right foods.
“Working with a registered dietitian nutritionist can help you evaluate your food choices and work with you to incorporate the right foods for you into your diet,” Prest says.
Before starting a dietary supplement
Always check with your health provider before starting a dietary supplement. Don’t take a supplement just because it has a celebrity endorsement or because you saw it on social media.
“They don’t know your medical history, so they’re not a good resource for supplement recommendations,” Chiariello cautions.
Your actual need for a supplement depends on your unique health needs and other medical conditions, which your health provider, local pharmacist or a registered dietitian can help assess.
Another reason to check with a trusted health source before trying vitamin and mineral supplements: Certain vitamins and minerals may interact with other medications you take. For instance, calcium can decrease your absorption of bisphosphonates, which are used to treat osteoporosis. If you take both a calcium supplement and a bisphosphonate, your health provider may ask you to take them a few hours apart.
Your health provider may want to order a lab test to check your level of a certain vitamin or mineral before recommending that you use a supplement for it.
Supplements with third-party verification
When choosing a dietary supplement, keep these tips in mind:
— Compare costs. You may be able to find the same supplement at a better price. You don’t necessarily need to stay loyal to a specific brand.
— Read the label. Make sure the supplement contains the nutrients that are right for you.
— Look for multivitamins that are USP or NSF certified. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expectations of how dietary supplements are manufactured, the FDA doesn’t actually analyze or regulate the supplements themselves. The best approach: Look for a supplement that says “USP” or “NSF” on the label. This means they have been verified by an independent third party to contain only and exactly what’s listed on the label. You can also verify what ingredients are in supplements using the National Institutes of Health’s Dietary Supplement Label Database.
Side effects of vitamins and minerals
At higher doses, there could be dangerous side effects. Some side effects that could indicate excessive intake of certain vitamins and minerals include:
— Bone pain
— Constipation or diarrhea
— Dry, rough skin
— Nausea or vomiting
Let your health provider know of changes to your health after you start to use a vitamin or mineral supplement.
“More isn’t necessarily better with dietary supplements,” Prest says.
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Vitamins and Minerals Older Adults Need originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 03/21/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
