Seniors and Vitamin & Mineral Supplements

Hi Toni @toni7, What a great discussion to start! I'm taking a few different ones for my overall health and a few specific health issues but really haven't done much digging into which ones are best for seniors. Here's a good start for learning while we wait for other seniors to share their suggestions and thoughts.

-- Dietary Supplements for Older Adults:
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/dietary-supplements-older-adults
You might also find these older Mayo Clinic articles helpful:
-- Multivitamins and Supplements: To Take or Not to Take?:
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/multivitamins-and-supplements-to-take-or-not-to-take/
-- "In this Special Report, you'll find out why vitamins and minerals are considered essential to good health and what you should know about the latest research ..." (2009)
Special Report - Mayo Clinic Women's Healthsource:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/documents/mc5129-0709-sp-rpt-pdf/doc-20079085

@toni7
I don’t believe in taking vitamins and minerals indiscriminately. I want proof my body actually needs them. I take vitamin D, B complex since I have a seizure disorder and take two different enzyme producing medications that alter the metabolism and absorption of some of those vitamins. I also take iron around 3am with orange juice as vitamin C increases absorption because I donate blood products 2-3 times a month.
I wouldn’t start taking supplements unless I discussed it with the doctor and had a blood test first to ensure it/they were necessary.
Take care,
Jake

What supplements should over 70 men and women take?

bontomp @bontomp

You might want to look at post under this topic.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/seniors-and-vitamin-mineral-supplements/
What you need depends on your diet, in theory if eating healthy, may not need any or very few. But if your like me, and do not eat a balanced diet, may need to add vit / supplements.

Laurie

Vitamin D is important, living in Minnesota because we don’t get enough sun and the Winter. I talk to my doctor and he gave me some good suggestions.

Vitamin D has been found important in regulating our immunity as well as bone health and calcium utilization.
B vitamins are supplied in most adult multivitamins.
Some prescribed medications can affect our nutritional
needs for B12. I take COQ10 with my prescribed statin
and OTC antacid has calcium and magnesium.
A healthy diet is the number one supplement.

I have my choice of OTC supplements, but as Seniormed said, the most important is a healthy diet.
The Mayo Clinic Diet Program offers several choices of diet styles. I follow a vegetarian diet because it's healthy, but also because it's easy to maintain and clean up the kitchen.
The great discovery is how much easier it is to be active when I'm not carrying 40 pounds of fat around my middle. (I went to Lowe's and picked up a 40 pound bag of concrete! That's what I used to carry all day long!)
If you're overweight, this is the best thing you can do for yourself.

Recent study out of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston by JoAnn Manson and others showed significant difference in men and women taking a “senior multi it” in cognitive functioning!

Here is the link to the study. It is interesting!
https://www.brighamandwomens.org/about-bwh/newsroom/press-releases-detail?id=4444#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20findings%20that%20a%20daily,older%20adults%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20co%2D