Study Suggests Multivitamin Supplementation Could Significantly Benefit the Elderly

by | Jul 27, 2011 | 2011, Aging, Vitamins

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. A new study has shown that the elderly, even with adequate food intake, can still suffer from vitamin deficiencies. 

Aging comes with many challenges that include both physical, with hip fractures from falls costing our healthcare system $17 billion in 2001 (1), and mental, with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease costing $100 (2) and $5.6 billion (3) each year, respectively. Fortunately, nutrition is a vital and controllable aspect of health as we age. A new study (7) has shown that the elderly, even when achieving adequate food intake, can still suffer from vitamin deficiencies.

In the study, 78 free-living patients (34 males, 44 females) between the ages of 70 and 75 participating in a research study called the SENECA multicenter project (8) provided nutrition intake information via food questionnaires used in previous research (9) to measure for intakes of vitamin B1, B2, A and C. They were then followed up 10 years later, when the researchers calculated the percentages of individuals with an intake below the lowest European Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) (10).

The researchers found that average calorie and carbohydrate/fat/protein intake met dietary guidelines at both the start and the 10-year follow-up of the study with no decline in calorie intake. Yet despite this intake, certain vitamin deficiencies were still seen. Specifically, the start of the study saw 2.5% of women and 3% of men to be deficient in vitamin C (11) while 44% of men and 60% of women were deficient in vitamin B1 (thiamine) (12).

At the 10-year follow-up, vitamin deficiencies increased to include half of all patients to be deficient in vitamin B2 (riboflavin) (13) and vitamin A (14) while vitamin C deficiencies rose in a decade from 3% to 6% in men and from 2.3% to 4.5% in women.

For the researchers, “despite an adequate nutritional/functional status and a total energy intake that could be expected to cover the recommendations for micronutrients too, a considerable proportion of our successfully aging elderly were already deficient in, or at high risk of becoming deficient in several essential vitamins.” Their solution was multivitamin supplementation as “necessary, even in healthy individuals, to ensure an adequate micronutrient intake in the elderly.”

Source: Toffanello, E. D., et al. “Ten-year trends in vitamin intake in free-living healthy elderly people: the risk of subclinical malnutrition.” The journal of nutrition, health & aging 15.2 (2011): 99-103.

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG. Part of Springer Nature.

Posted July 26, 2011.

References:

  1. National Osteoporosis Foundation Website “Fast Facts”
  2. Ernst, RL; Hay, JW. “The U.S. Economic and Social Costs of Alzheimer’s Disease Revisited.” American Journal of Public Health 1994; 84(8): 1261 – 1264.
  3. “Ten Frequently Asked Questions About Parkinson’s Disease” posted on the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation Website
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  5. Giu Y. Food Combination and Alzheimer Disease Risk. Arch Neurol 2010; 67(6):(doi:10.1001/archneurol.2010.84).
  6. USDA RDI Statistics
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  8. van’t HofMA, Burema J. Assessment of bias in the SENECA study. Eur J Clin Nutr 1996; 50 (Suppl 2): S4-S8.
  9. Toffanello ED, Inelmen EM, Minicuci N, Campigotto F, Sergi G, Coin A, et al. Ten-year trend in dietary intake, health status and mortality rates in free-living elderly people. JNHA 2010; 14: 259-264.
  10. Trichopoulou A, Vassilakou T. Recommended dietary intakes in Europe. Eur J Clin Nutr 1990; 44 (Suppl 2), S51-S100.
  11. “Vit. C”,  Medline Plus Website
  12. “Vit. B1”, Medline Plus Website
  13. “Vit. B2″, Medline Plus Website
  14. “Vit. A”, Medline Plus Website
  15. Dietary Supplement Information Bureau press release on September 22, 2004: “FACT SHEET – Improving Public Health, Reducing Health Care Costs: An Evidence-Based Study of Five Dietary Supplements”.