As you age, your health can suffer if you do not engage in daily healthy lifestyle habits. What you eat can determine if your body gets the essential nutrition that it needs every day. Vitamins are essential to your body if you are older than 50, and you should consume them each day to ensure that your body is as healthy as it can be.
What Vitamins Do You Need?
Your body uses 13 vitamins for a variety of essential life functions. These functions include the thousands of chemical reactions in your body that produce energy, fight infections, build cells and run your nervous system. These 13 vitamins are considered essential, because your body is not able to make them, and they are only available through the foods you eat. The 13 vitamins that you need each day include the eight B vitamins called thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, folate and vitamins A, C, D, E and K.
Daily Recommendations
If you are older than 50, you need to consume 700 to 900 mcg of vitamin A, 75 to 90 mg of vitamin C, 1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D, 15 mg of vitamin E and 90 to 120 mcg of vitamin K. You also need to consume 1.0 to 1.2 mg of thiamine, 1.0 to 1.3 mg of riboflavin, 14 to 16 mg of niacin, 1.7 to 5 mg of pantothenic acid, 5 to 30 mcg of biotin, 1.3 to 1.7 mg of B-6, 0.9 to 2.4 mcg of B-12 and 400 mcg of folate.
Multivitamins and Dietary Sources
In general, men need more vitamins than women do. To get the daily recommended amounts of the essential vitamins, you need to eat a balanced diet. Healthy dietary choices include fruits and vegetables of all shades and colors. Nuts, seeds, whole grains and lean meats such as fish and poultry are also sources of the essential vitamins. Good sources of the B vitamins include meat, peas, beans, eggs and dairy products. In addition to eating a balanced diet, take a daily multivitamin to ensure that you get ample amounts each day.
Healthy Aging
Eating a nutritious diet that contains the essential vitamins can reduce your risk of developing osteoporosis, high blood pressure, heart disease and certain cancers as you get older. If you are in your 50s and you are concerned about these conditions, start eating healthfully to prevent them in the future. In addition to a healthy diet, get proper exercise and physical activity each day, avoid smoking and get regular health checkups.
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