In the past era of lack of food, the most important thing for us was to eat enough, because only when we were full could we have the physical strength to do farm work. In recent years, with the rapid progress of biological science and technology, the meaning of food to people, in addition to eating enough to provide energy, and the supply of a variety of different nutrients to maintain life, but also found many different health benefits, such as eye protection lutein, increase immunity turmeric or garlic, or probiotics that claim to maintain normal intestinal function.
In the face of these health care products that claim efficacy, the elderly are most likely to be gullible. Sometimes, health care products are not supplemented, spending money is small, and endangering their own health is a big thing. So, when the elderly face health care products, what should they do best? Next, let's talk about it in detail.
Should the elderly supplement health supplements?
From the same source of medical food in the ancients, the food itself does have some health care functions, but the elderly often regard health food as a panacea because of health, disease or listening to Internet rumors, etc., but ignore the balance of three meals, such as the nutritional value of chicken soup is in the soup, so choose to drink only chicken essence instead of eating chicken. Therefore, if the elderly do not eat the right food, they cannot meet the nutritional standards they should have, not to mention whether many foods on the Internet that advertise health care for the human body really achieve their so-called effects.
Are there chronic toxicity in health supplements taken for a long time? Will there be an interaction? For example, many studies now show that eating more multivitamins is not necessarily helpful to the body, and long-term daily consumption is not appropriate, and the body is not affected by it. A danish study pointed out that taking excessive amounts of vitamins A, E and carotene, when antioxidants, may be due to the long-term accumulation of fat-soluble vitamins, but harmful to health, improve carcinogenic and overall mortality.
In addition, most health supplements are for healthy people, not for sick people. Most of the elderly obviously suffer from underlying diseases and do not consider taking medication, but spend money on health care products. In fact, health supplements have no effect on diseases, and sometimes they have no promotion effect on health. Therefore, we must have a correct concept that health care products have health care value, but it is impossible to treat diseases, so do not rely too much on health care products.
According to the results of the Mainland Nutrition Health Change Survey, the top 5 diets of the elderly with insufficient nutrient intake are calcium, vitamin E, vitamin D, zinc and magnesium. If you distinguish from the classification of food, the first two who do not have enough intake are milk and fruits. Therefore, before we help parents choose health foods, please first assess whether the daily diet meets the daily diet guidelines for the elderly.
Nutraceuticals – Are you the right supplement?
In real life, there are health care products everywhere that flaunt slogans such as fat burning and immunity enhancement, which allows me to see a variety of health care products in outpatient clinics. In order to pass on a correct and conventional nutritional concept. As for all kinds of healthy foods, you can still choose to supplement them according to your needs.
In addition, balanced intake of six major types of food has always been a well-established dietary principle, and the choice of natural foods is also a major source of adequate nutrient intake. If you only rely on health care products, it is difficult to meet the principle of nutritional balance, unless we are due to disease caused by dietary deficiencies or restrictions, otherwise single nutrient supplementation is not recommended.
If the elderly want to control weight and improve blood fat, it is the safest way to implement eating less and moving more. Increasing or maintaining muscle mass through regular exercise and gravity training to delay the basal metabolic rate is not only not easy to regain weight, but also does not need to feel bored because of strict dietary restrictions, or the dilemma of spending additional money on nutrient supplementation due to reduced diet. Of course, calculating calories to control the diet is still important for most elderly people who need to lose weight, and working with a dietitian, following personalized calorie advice and the concept of a balanced diet, makes healthy weight loss more sustainable.
Remember, do not reduce the intake of major nutrients for the sake of health products, just like the average person needs to eat normally, and cannot be replaced by other health care products at will. You know, no matter what kind of diet, balanced intake of enough calories and nutrients is the only way to maintain good health. In addition, a healthy diet is the need to accumulate over time, if you want to rely on a single formula or special nutritional products to treat diseases, or immediately improve the nutritional status is too exaggerated, it is still recommended that in addition to food choices in line with the following labels, the use of still need to ask the views of doctors, dietitians and other professionals, to understand their own health status, so as not to spend a lot of money and can not prescribe the right medicine, the most important thing is that do not give up the basic nutritional needs of individuals in order to supplement health food.
When the elderly buy health care products, they keep in mind the 3 principles and no longer spend money unjustly
In real life, due to aging, most elderly people have underlying diseases, such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar and so on. Coupled with excessive publicity on the Internet, the elderly always want to use health care products to maintain their health. Therefore, it is recommended that the elderly keep in mind the 3 principles when purchasing health care products and no longer spend money unjustly.
First, understand the needs
First of all, when we buy health care products, we must understand our own needs, such as the recent health examination data, whether there is abnormal data, or there is a family history of hereditary diseases, etc., these information and dietitians or doctors consult, in a complete understanding of diet, drugs and life schedule assessment, and then choose the appropriate health food to take, in addition, it is recommended not to take more than 3 kinds of health products a day.
Second, compare products
The elderly are best to understand the product before purchasing, especially now that the Internet is developed, they can check whether the manufacturer is reliable or has had false records in the past; whether the ingredient labels on the products are complete, whether there are key ingredient content labels and other items. If there is a label for health food certification, it is an indicator that gives us more protection. In addition, it is particularly important to note that products of different brands, if taken at the same time, are likely to cause an overdose of a nutrient, the light is excreted from the urine, and the heavy will have diarrhea, increased kidney burden or toxicity and other symptoms.
3. Periodic assessment
Health supplements cannot replace medication or a balanced diet. Therefore, after ingesting a certain health supplement for 3 months, it is necessary to track the health status regularly. If this is not achieved, be sure to consult a doctor. After all, the health benefits of health supplements for each different individual vary greatly, and food is for human health rather than for therapeutic purposes. At the same time, it is also a reminder that eating is a happy process, and try to choose a variety of foods when eating, while taking into account the delicious and balanced. #Elderly people on the headlines ##健康明星计划 #
Resources:
[1] "Why the Elderly Always Believe in Health Care Products That Are "Blown to heaven"" . People's Credit Industry Official Platform.2019-12-17
[2] Blind health care is not advisable! The difference between health food, health care products and drugs is here. Guangming Network.2021-10-11
[3] Guangming Daily: Banning health care products is not the goal, management is king. Guangming Daily.2019-01-29
[4] "Fight a psychological war, refuse to market health care products "pit old"". China Family Daily.2021-05-13
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