More Vitamin And Supplements Mistakes Many Seniors Make

A 1000 mg calcium tablet doesn't do you two and one-half times as much good as a 400 mg calcium tablet. It actually is less beneficial for your body than the smaller dose, and there is a related problem:

4. Getting Calcium without Its Cofactors

Many people take calcium for bone health. They probably suffer fewer fractures, but there is a growing body of evidence that they suffer more heart disease. The reason why is that taking calcium without the vitamin K2 that the body uses to make the hormones that directs it into the bones allows it to accumulate in the linings of arteries. Promotional materials that vitamin K2 removes calcium from existing atherosclerotic plaques are unsubstantiated (there's really no precise and reliable way to measure that), but there is strong evidence that adding K2 to your calcium supplementation routine will probably help prevent future atherosclerotic plaques.

5. Getting Too Much Vitamin D

Vitamin D turns out to a variety of beneficial effects, especially in the immune system. That doesn't mean that it's always a good idea to take more, more, more. Taking 1,000 to 10,000 IU per day probably does not have a significant downside in most people, but taking megadoses of vitamin D can lead to two serious problems, the formation of bone spurs (vitamin D is another cofactor of calcium in bone health) and sensitivity to sunlight. People have gotten serious sunburns just from spending a few minutes outdoors after taking doses of vitamin D 50,000 IU and greater.

6. Taking Iron Supplements You Don't Need

Iron is an essential medicine. Your body can't make hemoglobin for red blood cells without it. Not everyone, however, needs iron supplements. About 1 to 2 percent of the population in the United States has a disease called hemochromatosis, an iron overload disease. A similar percentage of the population in the Middle East has beta-thalassemia, a different condition that causes excessive accumulation of iron. Too much iron can cause the parts of your body that deal with the greatest amounts of sugar essentially to "rust." The insulin-making cells of the pancreas, the liver, and the heart can suffer serious damage from too much iron. The only treatment for hemochromatosis is to remove iron from the body through phlebotomy (drawing blood on a weekly basis for about a year) or chelation therapy. Don't take iron supplements unless your doctor has run a blood test to confirm that you need them.

READ Cold Hands And Feet: The Sign Of Iron Deficiency?

7. Taking Folic Acid When You Need Methylfolate

In the United States, about 20 percent of the population lacks a gene for making an enzyme that converts the B vitamin folic acid into its active form. As a result, they are functionally folic acid deficient even when they get adequate folic acid in their diets. The more folic acid they consume, the less of the active form they get into their cells. The results are miscarriage and infertility in young adults, and clotting disorders and increased risk of dementia in older adults. North American food manufacturers add folic acid to flour with the idea that it reduces birth defects, making the problem even worse.

The solution to the problem is simple. Take an inexpensive B vitamin supplement called methylfolate, and avoid anything made with processed flour (at least in North America). A test for the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutation can tell you if you need methylfolate supplements. It's covered by most insurance plans.