|
|
 |
 |
|
Vitamins and Supplements for Living Longer.
We all want to live longer, it's a basic survival instinct in our genes!
But what is the role of vitamins,
minerals, fatty acids, omega 3, antioxidants, and so on?
Our view at wotnext is that in trying to live longer, we should also do our best
to ensure that we stay as healthy and fit as possible, both physically and mentally.
One way we can live long and healthily is by maintaining an adequate supply of essential vitamins,
minerals and other important nutritional components throughout our adult lives.
The best way is often to get these through a balanced diet, but this isn't always
easy, so most of us take supplements to boost what is available in our diet.
This page summarises advice given in many sources, focusing on what supplements
are important for living to a healthy old age. |
TERMS
|
Some Terminology
There is a lot of science behind the supplements industry, but these are the key
things to know about:
|
Vitamins
|
Vitamins are nutrients required for essential processes in the body. For example Vitamin B12 is involved in the production of red blood cells.
Vitamins often have a name as well as a letter/number identifier, so for example Vitamin C has the name Ascorbic acid.
Sometimes on the listings of supplements they give you the letter, sometimes the name, and sometimes both.
|
|
Minerals
|
Minerals are the chemical elements required by your body, other than Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Oxygen.
For example, Calcium is an essential mineral in maintaining your bone density.
|
|
Antioxidants
|
Antioxidants are molecules that restrict the production of 'free radicals',
which have bad effects on body tissue, and contribute to ageing.
Antioxidants are also being investigated as possible treatments for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
|
|
Fatty Acids
|
Fatty Acids include particularly Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils.
There is evidence to suggest that low levels of these fatty acids may be a factor in a number of illnesses.
|
|
RDA |
Recommended Daily Allowance - we've tended to use the EU or UK recommendations (which
differ only a little) rather than the US recommendations.
It is our view that you should only take these amounts and not the much larger amounts
in some supplements.
For example the RDA for Vitamin B12 is 1 µg (one millionth of a gram) in the UK
(The EU says 2µg and the US says 3µg ). However Holland and Barrett's standard
offering of B12 is 25 µg, and if you think that might be overdoing it, there are tablets you can get by mail order which are a massive 1000µg per tablet...that
is a thousand times the recommended amount!!! |
.
In our tables below, we include some key nutrients that have been associated with living
longer.
These may have effects like reducing the incidence of particular life-threatening
conditions or more generally in reducing the effects
of ageing.
Of course there are many more nutrients that are important to general health, and
a good-quality balanced diet would contain all these, however, we would suggest
that for longevity, you do ensure that these nutients below are either in your diet
already, or you take a supplement.
This is not a medical site, and we would recommend asking your doctor before taking
any new additives or supplements, in case you have particular circumstances to be
taken into account.
A bonus for men:
Nutrients marked at the right with P are also
considered to be particularly beneficial in
preventing prostate problems. |
VITAMINS
|
|
Vitamin |
Daily amount |
| Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) |
60 mg RDA |
P |
| Vitamin E (Tocopherol) |
10 mg RDA |
P |
| Vitamin B3 (Nicotinamide) |
18mg RDA |
|
| Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) |
1 µg RDA |
|
| Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid) |
200 µg RDA |
|
|
MINERALS |
|
Mineral |
Daily amount |
|
|
Calcium |
800 mg RDA |
|
|
Chromium |
200µg suggested |
|
|
Magnesium |
300 mg RDA |
|
|
Potassium |
Best
from food |
|
|
Selenium |
Trace suggested |
P |
|
Zinc |
15 mg RDA |
|
|
ANTI-
OXIDANTS |
|
Antioxidant |
Daily amount |
|
|
Beta Carotene |
4-15 mg suggested |
|
|
Glutathione |
40-100 mg suggested |
|
|
CoEnzyme Q10 |
20-30 mg suggested |
|
|
Lycopene |
From tomatoes |
P |
|
Isoflavanoids |
From soya |
P |
|
FATTY
ACIDS
|
|
Fatty Acid |
Daily amount |
|
Omega 3 |
100 to 200 mg suggested |
|
Omega 6 |
3 times the Omega 3 amount.
(But you're probably getting enough from your food anyway) |
Wikipedia quotes:
Omega-3 and omega-6 should be consumed in a balanced proportion; the ideal
ratio of omega-6:omega-3 being from 3:1 to 5:1. This is more likely to be achieved
with fish oils than with vegetable oils.
Some medical research has suggested that excessive levels of omega-6, relative to
omega-3, may increase the probability of a number of diseases. Modern Western diets
typically have ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 in excess of 10 to 1, some as high as
30 to 1. |
Of course, you can get all of these nutrients from the
right kinds of food. For example oily fish like mackerel has plenty of Omega
3, red wine has lots of antioxidants, and selenium can be found in Brazil nuts and
lobster! So if you want to get your long-life nutrients through food, it's
quite a complex matter, but here's a good book to get you started!
|
|
Nutrients A-Z
A User's Guide to Foods, Herbs, Vitamins, Minerals
and Supplements
Nutrients A-Z is an easy-to-use reference to every food, herb, vitamin, mineral or supplement you might encounter:
from bananas and carrots, olive oil and yoghurt (the oldest natural medicines), to guarana and St John's Wort.
Each entry gives a definition in plain language: what it is and where it comes from; the form it takes; how to prepare or enjoy it;
its medicinal and health benefits and recommended daily dose.
for more information, or to buy it
|
|
A final thought:
You can live longer
through care with diet (including supplements) but don't forget that a long healthy
life is also dependent on non-diet factors. You can't do anything about the
genes you were born with, but you can do your best to take regular light exercise,
to maintain a healthy body-weight, and to avoid excess stress. For men, you
may also be interested to know that regular sex is now thought to reduce the chances
of prostate cancer!!
|
Some useful links to wotnext pages:
For everyone:
Where to live,
Keeping Fit,
Investing,
Hobbies,
Holidays,
Meeting People,
Getting Value,
Security
For early retirement:
Where to live,
Keeping Fit,
Investing,
Hobbies,
Holidays,
Meeting People,
Getting Value,
Security
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
©2001-8 wotnext.com
This information is for the UK
|
|
|
|
|
|
|