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The health care product market has always been a broad market, especially for the elderly friends, due to the emphasis on physical health, the various health care products on the elderly to supplement nutrition are even more endless, but in the face of a variety of health care products, how to polish the eyes of elderly friends, reasonable choice, is the most important, some nutrients, taking dietary supplements can get good health care effects, and some nutrients, if random supplementation, or long-term overdose, may bring health risks.
In an article on the score of health care products published on the "Harvard Health" website of Harvard Medical School, it may be possible to reveal the answer to health care products for us, today's popular science article, combined with this review article, to chat with you, the elderly should pay attention to supplements and pay attention to those health products and supplements that do not overdose.
The difference between drugs and health supplements
Many friends often confuse drugs and health care products, but in fact, the difference between the two is still very large, and the difference between drugs and health care products is mainly reflected in 2 aspects.
The first is the difference in use, drugs are used for disease treatment, control, prevention of products, and health care products should be classified as dietary supplements, that is, the efficacy of health care products is not to prevent diseases, it is impossible to treat and improve diseases, its main role is to supplement the diet outside the body may have nutritional deficiencies.
Due to the lack of nutrition, it will also lead to disease problems, so that in the publicity of many health care products, health care products will play a "cure disease and prevent disease" edge ball, in order to attract people to buy more, but this publicity method will also cause some people to stop using drugs, delaying the treatment that should be normal, it is really harmful!
Secondly, the differences in supervision are more worthy of our understanding. Whether it is China's drug regulatory authorities, or the US FDA, drugs are strictly regulated products, drugs need to carry out sufficient quality research and efficacy studies before listing, must submit sufficient data to ensure their safety and efficacy, and after approval, the drug regulatory authorities will also continue to monitor adverse reactions in clinical applications, while strictly supervising drug quality.
In contrast, the supervision of health care products is much more relaxed, although most people use health care products to supplement nutrition and enhance physical health, but for the approval of health care products, many times through the form of filing, and manufacturers do not need to provide full research data including purity, safety, efficacy, can be generated, and for the quality requirements, it is relatively more relaxed, therefore, this also caused different brands of health care products Quality may be uneven, which is also worth noting.
In this review published by Harvard Health, it is pointed out that everyone wants to know if supplements can help. That's a good question. As scientific research continues to emerge, so does the relevant recommendations. Unfortunately, for the most part, these studies fail to confirm our hopes.
Many people believe that taking supplements can keep them healthy or prevent disease; many others use supplements to treat specific conditions that have developed. But what is the reality? Let's share some of the related supplements mentioned in this review, should we eat them?
Health supplements worth eating
In this review article, three kinds of health supplements worth supplementing for the elderly are proposed - vitamin D, B vitamins and dietary fiber.
As we all know, after the skin receives ultraviolet light exposure in the sun, it will produce vitamin D, but with the reduction of most people's outdoor life, it should also reduce the risk of skin cancer and skin aging wrinkles, simply by sunshine vitamin D supplementation, often far from enough, especially the elderly, chronic disease patients are the key groups of vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium in the intestines and is especially important for bone health. Relevant dietary guidelines require that people under 70 years of age should be supplemented with 600 IU (international units) of vitamin D per day, while after the age of 70, they need to supplement 800 IU per day, and many experts recommend that middle-aged and elderly people should consume 800 to 1000 IU of vitamin D per day, and the daily intake of 4000 IU or less is considered safe, but if the dose is higher, it may pose a health risk.
Obtaining adequate vitamin D through diet is usually more difficult, deep-sea fish and vitamin D-fortified dairy products are the two most important sources, therefore, many adults, especially elderly friends, need to take supplements to obtain adequate vitamin D, you can choose vitamin D3 supplements, and take them at the same time as a lipid diet, which can play a better absorption effect. If you want to check for deficiency problems, you can confirm through blood tests, you should reach the level of 30ng/ml to be considered healthy.
Vitamin B12 is a vitamin mainly present in animal foods, and its absorption also needs to be decomposed by stomach acid and the combination of related factors, therefore, for the elderly with reduced absorption capacity, as well as insufficient gastric acid secretion, and long-term vegetarian population, may need to take vitamin B12 supplements to supplement, if there are long-term problems, or digestive and absorption dysfunction of the elderly, should consider taking vitamin B12 supplements.
In addition to vitamin B12, the lack of folic acid (vitamin B9) is also worth noting, especially china's hypertension elderly friends, if it belongs to the H type hypertension problem of high homocysteine, it should pay more attention to the reasonable supplementation of folic acid, if you can increase the intake of dark green leafy vegetables and other folic acid-rich ingredients in the diet, of course, it is not necessary to take supplements, but if it is a daily intake or insufficient absorption of elderly friends, you may need to take folic acid supplements.
Because B vitamins have a synergistic effect, in addition to folic acid and vitamin B12, the synergistic supplementation of vitamins such as vitamins B1, B2, B6 and so on is also very important, so for many elderly friends, if there is a deficiency, you can consider taking a supplement of complex B vitamins.
Most people only know that dietary fiber supplementation can treat constipation problems. Studies have found that there are many more potential benefits to a high intake of dietary fiber, ranging from cardiovascular disease to hernias, varicose veins and diverticulitis. The American Academy of Medical Sciences recommends that men over the age of 50 should consume at least 30g of dietary fiber per day, while women should reach 21g, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. are important sources of dietary fiber, but to achieve adequate supplements, many elderly people also need to take supplements to be able to achieve.
Health supplements that do not have to be taken
Supplements that do not have to be supplemented include: various antioxidant vitamins and selenium.
Antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin C, β carotene were once all the rage nutraceutical supplements, but in a number of randomized clinical controlled studies over the years, these antioxidants have not shown any benefit for heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Moderate doses of vitamin A also increase the risk of hip fractures, while high levels of vitamin A are associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer;
Excess β-carotene increases the risk of lung cancer in smokers;
Long-term vitamin E supplementation increases the risk of prostate cancer and is associated with increased respiratory infections, heart failure, and overall mortality.
Selenium is an important trace element in the human body, it was only found in the 90s of the last century in the human body, and the study at that time said that selenium can reduce the risk of cancer in humans, health care products in this regard are not uncommon, but early studies found that selenium supplementation for the prevention of heart disease has no benefit, in 2009 a multinational experimental report for 35553 people found that selenium and vitamin E supplementation, for reducing the risk of prostate cancer, there is no benefit, excessive supplementation of selenium will also increase the risk of diabetes.
Some people can consider the health supplements they choose
For many years, deep-sea fish oil is also a very common health care product, it has a certain protective effect in improving blood lipid profile, reducing cardiovascular and stroke risk, for cardiovascular disease patients who do not eat much fish, trying to supplement fish oil may be beneficial, but if you can guarantee to eat fish at least twice a week, there is no need to spend money on fish oil health products. It should be noted that the fish oil we are talking about here, not cod liver oil, the main nutrient in cod liver oil is vitamin A, and excessive supplementation will bring risks.
In addition to the fish oil mentioned in the Harvard Health Review article, let's talk about two other supplements that some people may consider supplementing - ammonia sugar and CoQ10.
This is also two common popular health care products, ammonia sugar has the role of nutritious joints, some friends after taking, help to improve joint pain, and some friends take it is completely ineffective; CoQ10 is the same, in the antioxidant, improve heart discomfort symptoms, etc., CoQ10 supplements also show a certain individualized difference, some friends eat well, and some friends eat completely ineffective, for these two health care products, if there are economic conditions, there is a personal willingness to supplement friends, You may wish to try to eat for 3 to 6 months, if you feel good, safe and effective, you may wish to continue to eat, if you eat without medication, do not spend this unjust money.
This article is written here, there have been nearly three thousand words, many friends may have limited patience, for everyone to summarize the final 4 points of summary it -
Drugs and health care products are completely different, and we must pay attention to distinguishing them.
Most elderly friends should also supplement health care products: vitamin D, B vitamins, and dietary fiber, if you can get adequate supplements through food supplements, you do not have to take health care products.
Most elderly friends do not need to take health care products: various antioxidant vitamins, selenium.
Some elderly friends can take health supplements in combination with the situation: fish oil (not cod liver oil), coenzyme Q10, ammonia sugar.
Thank you for your patience to read, but also hope that this article can be helpful and enlightening for the elderly friends to reasonably choose health supplements, if you have other experiences to share, welcome to leave a message below, we can continue to explore together.