As women grow older, their bodies need additional vitamins to keep them strong and ready to take on each new day. Vitamin D is a supplement that becomes more and more important in our everyday health during the aging process.
Studies suggest that early bone health could delay osteoporosis by about 13 years. By age 12, girls have reached about 26% of their bone mass and by age 20 it reaches 90%. These studies show that it is important to have that core bone health even before we hit the aging years.
Weight bearing exercises are suggested to increase the bone density, and cardiovascular exercise such as running or walking, doesn’t necessarily contribute to our bone health, just cardiovascular health. Repetitive motion exercises can actually result in more fractures, especially in runners, than in someone who plays a sport like basketball, or even gymnastics in their adolescent years.
As women age, they must continue to take care of their bone health. Vitamin D, when taken at high doses, may help decrease the risk of bone fractures. “As we know women’s bones become more fragile through the aging process, regular activities may be harder on the body. Activities like walking, running or doing household chores could result in fractures when the body lacks Vitamin D,” says Jerrold Weinberg, M.D. A study done in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests taking over 800 IU of Vitamin D a day can reduce your risk of fractures by 30%. The study also reports, that Vitamin D supplements taken at less than 800 IU, have little to no effect in reducing the risk of bone fractures.
A British Journal of Nutrition study showed a group of obese women who dieted for 15 weeks and took 1200 milligrams of Calcium lost six times more weight than those who did not. You may be able speed up your weight loss by 70% by taking this supplement while increasing your mood and boosting immunity.
While a part of each daily dose of Vitamin D may come through the sunshine, it’s hard to get enough of the daily dose through sun alone, especially in the Michigan winter months. Taking a supplement will help increase your Vitamin D, but there are also foods that you may be able to consume as well – cod liver oil, fish, fortified cereal, eggs, oysters, mushrooms, and fortified dairy products, have some of the highest levels of Vitamin D.
To your good health!
