Supplement use among the elderly is on the rise

More than half of the elderly may take dietary supplements regularly, according to recent surveys, and health professionals say much of that use is based on spotty evidence about the benefits of particular supplements for seniors.

With a welter of supplements on the market, including a surge in availability of herbal products such as echinacea and ginkgo biloba, specialists say there is an urgent need for more data on supplement use and how it may affect health and longevity in older people.

According to one survey, more than 40% of men and 50% of women age 60 and older reported using at least one vitamin or mineral supplement. “It’s clear that supplement use by the elderly is increasing rapidly,” said Katherine Tucker, a Tufts University nutritionist who spoke at a recent conference on dietary supplements and the elderly.

For people of all ages, some supplements have real benefit in redressing certain nutritional deficiencies, experts say. Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes, director of the metabolic bone diseases clinic at Tufts-New England Medical Center, said fewer than 10% of men and women older than 50 have adequate calcium intake through their diets alone. “This leaves a substantial calcium gap that needs to be filled by diet modification, food fortification and supplements,” Dawson-Hughes says.

The nonprofit Institute of Medicine, which provides scientific advice to the government, has endorsed the need for adequate intake of vitamin B-12, calcium and vitamin D in the elderly, through diet or supplements if necessary.

But there is less agreement on the value of other supplements, including antioxidants such as vitamin E and beta carotene that have been the subject of several large-scale studies in recent years for their possible effects against cancer.

No single supplement is proving to be a magic bullet to prevent cancer or retard cellular aging of tissues, experts said.