04.01.09
Three new studies published in the February 23rd edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine showed the positive role certain vitamins and minerals can play in supporting health and preventing disease conditions.
The first study suggests that women with higher intakes of calcium from both food and supplements—up to 1300 mg/day—appear to have a lower risk of cancer overall, and both men and women with high calcium intakes have lower risks of colorectal cancer and other cancers of the digestive system.
An additional study showed that women who took a combination of B vitamins, including folic acid (2.5 mg/day), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6, 50 mg/day) and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12, 1 mg/day), decreased their risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible vision loss for older Americans. The third study suggests that higher blood levels of vitamin D are inversely associated with the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections. (For more information on these and other studies, see our vitamins and minerals update, which starts on page 34.)