As they get older, many elderly people will face the problem of suffering from multiple geriatric diseases at the same time, and they have to take a bunch of medicine every day. Why is it that "people are useless when they are old"? The doctor said that supplementing these three nutrients can strengthen physical fitness and help prevent diseases!
The 76-year-old old Fang is a typical example. After retirement, Lao Fang can be said to be a local "communicator", and his daily retirement life is colorful. However, since the diagnosis of diabetes, coronary heart disease and chronic renal insufficiency, Lao Fang's life has changed.
Because of the disease, Lao Fang kept running between the hospital and his home, and his whole person gradually became thin and listless. To add insult to injury, one year ago, Lao Fang had symptoms such as hematuria, poor urination, and painful urination, and was finally diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Lao Fang couldn't understand how he suddenly became sick after retirement, when he was once rich and strong, and rarely got sick? In fact, Lao Fang's situation is not unique. According to the survey results, the elderly account for only 14% of the total population, but account for as much as 30% of the number of people admitted and discharged to the hospital, which is enough to show that the elderly are indeed more likely to get sick. Why are people prone to getting sick when they are old? What are the good ways to enhance the physique of the elderly?
First, why the elderly are prone to illness, do you know?
The root cause of the elderly's easy illness lies in the gradual aging of the body. Young and middle-aged people are the peak period of human function, and then with age, the structure and function of the body will gradually appear aging and degeneration. Aging is a gradual and irreversible process, which will cause the reserve function of various organs and systems to decrease, and cannot adapt well to changes in the external environment. The aging of various organs and systems makes the elderly prone to different diseases, and the specific reasons are as follows.
Compared with younger people, the changes in the cardiovascular system in older people are mainly manifested by the enlargement of the heart and the contraction and diastolic function of cardiomyocytes, resulting in a decrease in cardiac reserve. At the same time, the elasticity of the tube wall that flows arterial blood will be weakened, lipid plaque will form, causing coronary artery stenosis and myocardial ischemia.
The changes in the brain are concentrated in the aging and degeneration of nerve cells and the reduction of their number. It has been reported that 80-year-olds can reduce the number of superior temporal gyrus cells by 50%. The reduced degeneration of nerve cells can lead to significant brain atrophy, causing changes in brain function, which are common in the elderly. Due to the influence of brain atrophy, the elderly are prone to symptoms such as memory loss, decreased learning ability, and uncoordinated movements.
The digestive system, which is closely related to diet, is also affected by aging, the most common of which is tooth loss, which is caused by tooth root atrophy. Down the digestive tract, the cells that endocrine digestive juices in the gastrointestinal tract will also have reduced function, resulting in insufficient secretion of digestive juices such as gastric juice and intestinal juice, which in turn causes poor digestion and absorption of food.
As the skin ages, wrinkles, dryness, age spots, and red vascular warts may occur. Of course, it is not only these systems that are affected by aging, the entire body of the elderly is affected to varying degrees. What diseases does the aging of these organ systems predispose the elderly?
Second, the elderly with these diseases need to strengthen their vigilance!
According to statistics, the most common diseases that lead to hospitalization of the elderly are: chronic lower respiratory tract disease, ischemic heart disease, cerebral infarction, hypertension, and malignant tumors. Therefore, these diseases require the elderly to be vigilant!
Chronic lower respiratory disease is one of the diseases that plague many older people. It generally begins in young age and becomes more harmful in old age. Especially in autumn and winter, many elderly people will cough and cough up sputum and panting repeatedly. The most common of these diseases is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The clinical manifestations of COPD are recurrent and persistent cough, sputum production, and sometimes wheezing, chest tightness, and dyspnea after activity. It will severely restrict the daily activities of the elderly, and some people even threaten that "if you have COPD, there is no cure". The fact is that COPD does not have to be so negative, and taking medication with appropriate nutritional supplements and physical exercise can control COPD well.
Ischemic heart disease is another type of high incidence in the elderly, and there is a trend of gradually younger age. The most common of ischemic heart disease is coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (coronary heart disease). According to the results of the fifth health service survey in China in 2013, the prevalence of coronary heart disease in people over 60 years old is as high as 27.8%. If you have chest pain after exertion or sudden severe crushing, you need to pay attention, it is likely that coronary heart disease has found you before you know it!
To distinguish whether chest pain is caused by coronary heart disease, it is also necessary to pay attention to the location of chest pain and accompanying symptoms. If it is a severe crushing chest pain located in the middle or left side of the chest, accompanied by symptoms such as shortness of breath, cold sweat, dizziness, etc., it is likely to be coronary heart disease! At this time, it is necessary to take relevant drugs immediately, if it cannot be relieved, you need to go to the chest pain center of the hospital immediately.
The most common among cerebrovascular diseases is cerebral infarction. Elderly people with high blood pressure, heart disease, high blood sugar, dyslipidemia and other diseases are more likely to suffer from cerebral infarction. When the elderly have sudden hemiplegia, sensory loss, and aphasia, the possibility of cerebral infarction should be considered, and it is necessary to be sent to the hospital immediately.
Hypertension is a high incidence worldwide, with a prevalence of more than 20% in mainland China. High blood pressure sometimes presents with headache, tiredness, chest tightness, numbness in the limbs, etc., but most of them do not have typical clinical symptoms. However, long-term hypertension can cause a variety of serious complications, such as coronary heart disease, heart failure, cerebral infarction, etc., so it is very necessary to improve the nutritional structure and regularly measure blood pressure.
Another frightening old age is malignant tumors, that is, cancer. Because malignant tumors have the characteristics of rapid onset and difficult to detect, patients generally have symptoms and are more difficult to cure. At the same time, the elderly are in poor health, which leads to people over 65 years old becoming the main group of malignant tumor deaths.
However, it is difficult to detect cancer early because patients generally do not have specific symptoms in the early stages of cancer. When the elderly feel uncomfortable to go to the doctor, most of them have reached the middle and late stages, and it is difficult to completely cure at this time. When there are signs such as local lumps, unexplained pain, bleeding, and rapid weight loss in a short period of time, the elderly need to be alert to whether there is a malignant tumor that is quietly invading your body.
Once the elderly suffer from these diseases, it is difficult to completely cure, which will cause great harm to the body of the elderly. There is an old saying that "the upper medicine heals the disease, the Chinese medicine heals the sick, and the lower doctor is sick". Since these diseases are difficult to treat, the most effective protection is naturally to prevent diseases. There are many ways to prevent disease, and diet is undoubtedly one of the simplest. So how to strengthen physical fitness and prevent diseases through diet? Doctors suggest that these three nutrients need attention!
Third, supplementing these 3 nutrients is conducive to strengthening physical fitness!
In Chinese medicine, there is a view that "medicine is not as good as food treatment", and Sun Simiao also advocates that "food therapy does not heal, and then life medicine". It can be seen that a reasonable diet and proper nutrition supplements can indeed play a role in strengthening the body. These three nutrients in food especially need the attention of the elderly, namely protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Protein can be said to be the original origin of life, without protein there is no life. It is involved in the composition of the body, provides energy to the body, and plays important physiological functions. Proper protein supplementation is very important, when the body loses more than 2Kg of protein, it can lead to severe physiological dysfunction.
There are many kinds of foods that can supplement protein, different foods have different nutritional values, and the body's digestion, absorption and utilization of them are also different. Therefore, protein supplementation requires careful selection. In general, the nutritional value of plant protein is not as good as animal protein, and animal protein is preferred when supplementing protein. Among the animal proteins, they are listed in order of nutritional value from high to low: eggs, milk, fish, beef, etc.
In addition to eating it alone, mixing two or more protein-rich foods may be a better option. Specific food mixtures can supplement relatively deficient amino acids, thereby achieving better nutritional effects. For example, tofu with gluten, or wheat, millet, beef, and soybeans mixed together can have a better effect.
Another type of nutrition that older people need to pay attention to is vitamins. Don't look at the very small amount in the body, but it plays a lot of role. Vitamins are essential substances for maintaining the body's metabolism, growth and development processes. Most of the vitamins the body needs must be obtained from food.
However, an unbalanced diet and a decrease in the digestion and absorption capacity of the elderly can lead to vitamin deficiency in the elderly. Vitamins that have a greater impact on the health of the elderly include vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin B, vitamin C, etc., which require special attention from the elderly.
Among them, vitamins A and D are fat-soluble vitamins. The clinical manifestations of vitamin A deficiency are mainly concentrated in the eyes, which can lead to night blindness or xerophthalmia, mainly manifested as blurred vision at night and decreased secretion of lacrimal glands. However, additional vitamin A supplementation is not recommended in the elderly, as excessive vitamin A supplementation can cause toxicity. The most appropriate way to supplement is to eat foods rich in vitamin A or carotene.
The main role of vitamin D is to promote the absorption and utilization of calcium ions, and its deficiency mainly affects the skeletal system. Long-term vitamin D deficiency in adults will cause osteomalacia, which is mainly manifested as bone pain, muscle weakness, and spinal curvature.
In addition to the body's own synthesis, the main way to consume vitamin D in daily life is mainly through the consumption of marine fish, animal liver, cod liver oil and other foods. If vitamin D deficiency is judged on testing, additional vitamin D supplementation may also be used. The Chinese Medical Association recommends 400-800IU of vitamin D supplementation per day for the elderly.
Vitamin B and C are water-soluble vitamins, and the lack will also make the elderly prone to diseases such as angular cheilitis and scurvy. Elderly people eat more liver, milk, nuts, fruits and other foods to supplement vitamin B and vitamin C.
Minerals are also essential for maintaining good health in the elderly. With age, affected by metabolic disorders, the content of beneficial minerals in the body of the elderly decreases, which needs to be paid attention to. Common minerals that require additional supplements include calcium, iron, and more.
After the body enters a state of aging, the decrease in food intake leads to a decrease in iron intake, while the decline in gastrointestinal function leads to a decrease in iron absorption, which leads to a decrease in calcium absorption and calcium precipitation in the body. Calcium is an important component of bones and teeth, and the reduction of calcium will lead to osteoporosis and easy to cause fractures in the elderly.
Iron is one of the raw materials for hematopoiesis, which is closely related to the synthesis of hemoglobin; Iron also catalyzes the conversion of carotene into vitamin A, which in turn participates in the process of immune regulation. Iron deficiency in the elderly can easily lead to anemia, and can appear cognitive and behavioral function, immune function decline and other symptoms, so the elderly usually need to pay attention to eating animal liver and other iron-rich foods.
Tips
If the elderly want to enhance physical fitness and prevent diseases, they need to strengthen the three nutrients of protein, vitamins and minerals. But everything is too late, when supplementing nutrition, we should pay attention to the ways and methods: to reasonably match protein-rich foods; Also pay attention to the dosage of vitamins and minerals supplemented; Also exercise moderately to maintain a healthy BMI.