Vitamins & Supplements Archive

Green vegetables and citrus fruits are good natural sources of folate.

If you're among the one in three American adults with high blood pressure, be sure you're getting enough of the B vitamin known as folate. Doing so may lower your odds of having a stroke, a new study suggests.

Supplements can plug dietary gaps, but nutrients from food are most important.

The fresh food you eat is loaded with nutrients necessary for good health, such as magnesium, calcium, and vitamins A and C. But many older adults aren't getting enough nutrients from their diets.

Q. Would you suggest I try taking a probiotic supplement for general colon health? I have a sensitive stomach and sometimes suffer from constipation.

A. Probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines and assist in digestion, have gained a lot of support lately. Each week, a new study appears describing health benefits or diseases associated with changes in the so-called microbiome—the diverse community of microorganisms each of us carries inside our body. Still, the benefits of adding probiotics to the intestinal tract are uncertain.

Probiotics have proved helpful in situations where the body's normal, healthy bacteria have been destroyed, such as after taking a powerful antibiotic. Small studies in people with irritable bowel syndrome have suggested that taking probiotics improves pain and diarrhea. The benefit in constipation is less certain, but it's reasonable for you to try taking a probiotic if you are interested.

Q. There seems to be agreement that supplements are worthless in supporting good health. I've been taking a multivitamin for older women for many years. I also take a calcium supplement since I am lactose intolerant. Should I discontinue the multivitamin, the calcium, or both?

A. You are definitely right about the recent consensus that most supplements, and certainly multivitamins, provide very little, if any, benefit to our health. So yes, stop taking the multivitamin. A far more important strategy to maintain good health is eating a diet containing lots of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, unsaturated fats, and small amounts of protein. Our bodies were designed to absorb nutrients from food, and that continues to be the best way to get them in our systems.

Q. My internist told me to take calcium because I have osteoporosis. However, I heard that blockages in heart arteries could also contain calcium. Am I hurting my arteries by taking calcium supplements?

A. Doctors often recommend calcium supplements for people with osteoporosis, and I'd advise you to follow your physician's advice, as calcium is important for bone health. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for calcium for adults is 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams (mg) a day; dairy products are the best sources. For healthy people who get enough calcium in their diets, the role of calcium supplements is less clear, although some people hope that taking them may help preserve bone strength.

New guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say that there’s no evidence vitamin D screenings help seemingly healthy people.

Q. I've heard that low vitamin D levels have been linked to heart disease, so I'm wondering if I should
be taking a vitamin D supplement, just in case. What's your advice? 

A. I suggest that you make sure you're getting the Recommended Dietary Allowance for vitamin D, which is 600 international units (IU) for adults up to age 70 and 800 IU for those older than 70. It's true that low vitamin D levels have been linked to heart disease in some studies. However, low vitamin D might just be a consequence of a poor diet and lack of exercise, which can contribute to obesity, heart disease, and a host of other health problems. And to date, there is no evidence that taking additional vitamin D helps prevent or treat any of those conditions, though large studies are ongoing and should provide a definitive answer in the next few years.

Are you getting enough calcium, potassium, and magnesium to keep your blood pressure in a healthy range?

Cutting back on salt is the first commandment in controlling high blood pressure, or hypertension. But managing your intake of other dietary minerals also appears to be key. "We're moving beyond just looking at sodium," says Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. Research from the landmark DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) trial and more recently the OmniHeart study has shed light on the synergy of different foods and the role of minerals such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium in controlling blood pressure.