After age 40 and approaching menopause, a woman's nutritional concerns shift. You no longer need to be concerned with keeping your body primed for childbearing, and you may be focused instead on keeping a stable hormonal balance through perimenopause and preventing age-related conditions and diseases. Your need for some nutrients goes up, while for others, such as iron, it goes down. Supplements can help you keep an even nutritional keel, although food sources of vitamins and minerals are always the optimal choice.
Calcium
Hopefully you've already been intent on keeping up your calcium intake through your 20s and 30s. Now is not the time to slack off, however, as your risk for osteoporosis increases as you age. Calcium is bulky and thus usually not found in a multivitamin supplement--you'll want to take 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day in a separate supplement form if you're not getting that amount through food sources such as milk and other dairy products, fortified cereals and soy milk, tofu, canned fish and leafy green vegetables.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D also supports bone health and helps prevent osteoporosis. It may also have a role in preventing certain cancers, especially breast, ovarian and colon cancer. It may also help prevent multiple sclerosis. You should be getting 200 to 400 IU a day either through supplements or food sources such as fortified milk and cereal and fish such as salmon, mackerel and tuna. Vitamin D is also synthesized by the body from exposure to the sun, so moderate outdoor activity is also recommended for your good health--this is especially important the farther north you live or the darker your natural skin tone.
Vitamin E
Mother Earth News reports that vitamin E may play a role in both preventing heart disease and stroke and in preventing age-related dementia. Good food sources for vitamin E include nuts and nut oils--including peanuts--and sunflower seeds, but you may also wish to consider taking a supplement in this case, particularly if you follow a low-fat diet. The recommended daily allowance is 25 IU.
Magnesium
Magnesium helps the body absorb calcium, and so it is an important component of a healthy diet for women over 40. The Alternative Medicine Digest suggests that it also has a general anti-aging benefit. Nuts, peanuts, whole grain cereals, brown rice, lentils and beans are all good food sources for magnesium. Try to get at least 300 milligrams a day.
Iron
Women's need for iron decreases after menopause, but until then, it remains important to women over 40 to prevent fatigue, anemia and poor immunity to infection. Women should continue to get a minimum of 18 milligrams a day from either supplements or food sources such as red meat, fortified cereal, lentils and beans and spinach.
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