the specific vitamin requirements of older women

 Vitamins for dummies: part-4

As many as 2 of every 1,000 babies born each year in the United States have a neural tube defect such as spina bifida because their mothers didnft get enough folate to meet the RDA standard. Taking 400 micrograms folate daily before becoming pregnant and through the first two months of pregnancy significantly lowers the risk of giving birth to a child with cleft that is, the ones you transfer to your child in your milk. Ifm approaching menopause Information about the specific vitamin requirements of older women is as hard to find as, well, information about the specific vitamin requirements about older men. Itfs enough to make you wonder whatfs going on with the people who set the RDAs. Donft they know that everyone gets older? Right now, just about all anybody can say for sure about the nutritional needs of older women is that they require extra calcium to stem the natural loss of bone that occurs when women reach menopause and their production of the female hormone estrogen declines. They may also need extra vitamin D to enable their bodies to absorb and use the calcium.

You need extra vitamin A, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, and folate to produce sufficient quantities of nutritious breast milk, about 25 ounces/750 ml each day. You need extra vitamin D, vitamin C, and niacin as insurance to replace the vitamins you lose . that is, the ones you transfer to your child in your milk. Ifm approaching menopause Information about the specific vitamin requirements of older women is as hard to find as, well, information about the specific vitamin requirements about older men. Itfs enough to make you wonder whatfs going on with the people who set the RDAs. Donft they know that everyone gets older? Right now, just about all anybody can say for sure about the nutritional needs of older women is that they require extra calcium to stem the natural loss of bone that occurs when women reach menopause and their production of the female hormone estrogen declines. They may also need extra vitamin D to enable their bodies to absorb and use the calcium. Gender Bias Alert! No similar studies are available for older men. But adding vitamin D supplements to calcium supplements increases bone density in older people. The current RDA for vitamin D is set at 5 micrograms/200 IU for all adults, but the new AI (Adequate Intake) for vitamin D is 10 micrograms/400 IU for people ages 51 to 70 and 15 micrograms/600 IU or more for people 71 and older. Some researchers suggest that even these amounts may be too low to guarantee maximum calcium absorption. Check with your doctor before adding vitamin D supplements. In very large amounts, this vitamin can be toxic. I have very light skin or very dark skin Sunlight . yes, plain old sunlight . transforms fats just under the surface of your skin to vitamin D. So getting what you need should be a cinch, right? Not necessarily. Getting enough vitamin D from sunlight is hard to do when you have very light skin and avoid the sun for fear of skin cancer. Even more difficult is getting enough vitamin D when you have very dark skin, which acts as a kind of natural sun block. Read More...