Your heart. You love it. You also worry about it. You know that your risk for heart disease increases with age, but are you able to protect yourself, even with a family history of heart disease? You most certainly can!
One way to reduce your risk for heart disease is starting with a healthy diet. Studies show that high consumption of red meat is associated with increased levels of TMAO, a chemical marker that has been linked to heart disease. TMAO is produced by your gut bacteria. Just limiting your red meat intake will show a decrease in elevated levels of TMAO within a month. An easy way to reduce your red meat intake is going meatless one day a week or getting more protein from other sources, such as white meat, fish, and beans.
Another way to reduce your risk for heart disease is to schedule regular yearly follow-ups with your family physician. They are able to track things like your blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels, so that they can work with you to keep them in a normal range. A normal blood pressure range is less than 120 for systolic (the top number) and less than 80 for the diastolic (the bottom number). If your numbers are not within this range, your family physician may talk to you about starting medication or dietary changes to help keep your blood pressure within this range.
Another way to reduce your risk for heart disease is to stay active. That doesn’t mean that you need to run marathons or walk miles a day. Begin slowly by adding a brisk, leisurely walk around your neighborhood for about 20-30 minutes a day. Gradually increase your rate to help increase the health benefits. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week for adults, which means only 30 minutes of exercise per day, for 5 days a week.
Continuing to make healthy choices for your body, no matter your age, increases the chances of staying healthy as you age. It’s never too late to start living a healthy lifestyle!
What vitamins that you need all depend on your current health and what you get from the foods that you eat. By eating a variety of foods, you can get all the nutrition you need, but if your diet is lacking in some areas, sometimes dietary supplements are still needed.
Nutrient needs vary by age, gender and life stage. After the age of 50, it’s generally recommended to take the following: a daily multivitamin, Vitamin B12, Calcium, Vitamin D, and the AREDS formulation for eye health(below).
Taking a daily multivitamin helps fill in the nutrient gaps left from what you are missing in your daily diet, even though you might not be aware of it. Vitamin B12 helps with your metabolism, red blood cell formation, and neurological function, such as memory. This is one vitamin that becomes harder for us to absorb as we age, so it's important to use a dietary supplement to make up for that deficiency. A severe deficiency can cause fatigue, weakness, and anemia.
Calcium and Vitamin D are other vitamins that are important, especially in women as our chances for osteoporosis increases with age. Due to menopause, estrogen, a hormone that protects our bones, decreases sharply, causing our risk for fractures to increase. Vitamin D helps with this by helping our bodies absorb Calcium, whether we get it in the foods that we eat or as dietary supplement. Taking both Vitamin D and Calcium will help promote bone health and keep our bones stronger. Vitamin D also helps reduce the risk for heart attacks, strokes, asthma, and depression.
The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) formulation for eye health is a combination of Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Lutein, Zeaxanthin, and Zinc. The AREDS, sponsored by the federal government’s National Eye Institute, found that taking this combination slowed the progression of advanced age-related macular degeneration, which is when part of your retina is damaged, and may play a role in cataract prevention.
So as you can see, it’s important to get all your vitamins as our needs increase with age. As always, be sure to contact your family physician prior to starting any dietary supplement, as some vitamins interact and interfere with certain prescription drugs that you may be taking. For instance, Vitamin K interferes with blood thinners like Coumadin and Vitamin E actually thins your blood. Things that would be important for your physician to know.
