Vitamins and minerals, in small amounts, were found to be needed in the diet for the normal growth and maintenance of all animal life, including that of man. Through extensive tests, nutritionists then established the "recommended daily allowance" required for the average, healthy, normal adult. However, these studies involved younger adults and the needs of the older population have yet to be determined.

Vitamin nutrition of older persons is often caught in a three-way bind:

1. decreased nutritional intake;

2. decreased absorption; and

3. increased need that is caused by decreasing efficiency of some enzyme system with age.

The national theme is: Most people obtain enough vitamins by eating a wide variety of nutritious foods and often do not need a vitamin supplement. Often, people are attracted by advertisements for vitamins that make claims to promote or improve health. Some believe that foods no longer contain the nutrient levels they once did. Others, like Dr. Linus Pauling, believe that higher levels of vitamin C, 10 grams per day, are a powerful tool against colds, flu, cancer, coronary disease, and reduction in age-specific deaths. Nutritional activists contend that ingesting more vitamins A and C is important to reduce the risk of chronic disease, especially cancer and heart disease. Click Here to learn about Neutral C and Neutral C+ that provide 4 to 5 times greater assimilation and utilization than most common form of Vitamin C.

What to Do?
Obviously, our "experts" have established minimum levels of vitamins needed for good health, but they are in disagreement or unsure if higher levels of some vitamins are needed to promote better health. However, most agree that the elderly and sick individuals, whose appetites are depressed, or whose medications may interfere with nutrition, may be deficient in certain vitamins or minerals without supplements, yet "experts" provide no common recommendations. Most contend that a good vitamin/mineral supplement, although not needed, offers an "insurance policy." If one can afford them, they contend that it will do no harm if not taken in excess amounts. Essentially, you make your own decisions or ask advice of one you trust who is knowledgeable about nutrition.

What Are Vitamins?
The many different vitamins required by man were found to be similar because they are made of the same organic elements--carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and sometimes nitrogen. (Vitamin B-12 also contains cobalt.) They were found to be different because their elementary structures are arranged differently. At first, no one knew what vitamins were chemically, so they were identified by letters. Later, in some cases, what was thought to be one vitamin turned out to be many, and to differentiate numbers were added to the letters; the vitamin B complex is the best example.

When some of these organic compounds were found unnecessary for human needs, they were removed from the list of essential vitamins, which accounts for some of the gaps in the letters and numbers. So now, hoping to minimize confusion, we have only 13 vitamins that are claimed essential.

Anyone who reads a food label or the fine print on the back of a vitamin bottle sees nutritional values compared to RDA's (the Recommended Daily Allowance). These numbers are the nutritional recommended values for 18 essential vitamins and minerals that have been established to "serve as a goal for good nutrition."

Each of the 13 essential vitamins performs one or more specific functions in the body. If any one is missing, a deficiency disease becomes apparent. Vitamins do not provide energy, nor do they construct or build any part of the body. They are specifically needed for transforming foods into energy and body maintenance. Research indicates that getting enough vitamins is essential to life. In contrast, the body has no use for excess vitamins. High doses of certain vitamins can be dangerous, even fatal. Add to that the complication that the body can only store some vitamins for only relatively short periods. The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K are absorbed along with fat from various foods and are stored in the body. The water-soluble vitamins, the B's and C, generally are not stored.

Recommended "Minimums"
People who are interested in nutrition and health should become familiar with the RDA established values. These are the amounts of vitamins, minerals, and proteins believed to be needed by most people each day, to remain healthy, according to the U.S. government. Unfortunately, for those of us in the second 50 years, these "standards" have not been established for older people. Government policy recommends the values needed by the general population.

RDA's are often misunderstood by consumers and are frequently taken for USRDA's--the recommendations found on an increasing number of food labels. Since food labels are too small to include RDA's for all age groups, the FDA sets an average for everyone--the USRDA--which is what appears on a growing number of foods. In addition to this problem, these "standards" for the elderly, especially those with chronic illnesses, are being questioned by a number of nutritionists.

Extremely sensitive methods of measuring the potency or quantity of vitamins have been developed because they are present in foods in very small amounts. Some vitamins are measured in IU's (international units), which is a measure of biological activity. Other vitamins are expressed by weight in micrograms or milligrams.

To illustrate the small amounts needed by the human body, let's start with an ounce, which is 28.4 grams. A milligram is 1/1000 of a gram, and a microgram is 1/1000 of a milligram. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin B12 for an adult is 6 micrograms a day. Then, just one ounce of this vitamin could supply the daily needs of 4,724,921 people.

The table below describes the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of each vitamin, what it does, and the food sources.

NEWS REPORTS: A study of 333 men who already had evidence of coronary artery disease and had suffered angina (chest pain) showed after six years there were 10 heart attacks among the men who took 50-milligram beta carotene pills every other day. There were 17 heart attacks among the placebo users. Among men in this group who took both beta carotene (a form of vitamin A common in carrots) and aspirin, there were no heart attacks.

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