With a dizzying array of vitamins to choose from, how do you know what to take? Robert Alan Bonakdar, MD, director of Pain Management at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine and editor of the H.E.R.B.A.L. Guide: Evidence-based Dietary Supplement Resources for the Clinician offers tips to target your choices:
Think D-fense. Unless you bask in the midday sup up to a half hour several days a week or gulp 10 glasses of milk each day, aim for 800to 1,000 international units (IUs) of vitamin D3 (more than the usually suggested 200 to 600 IUs). Deficiency is linked to osteoporosis and possibly heart disease and cancers of the breast, colon and prostate.
Bone up. To help prevent osteoporosis, women need 1,000 milligrams (mg) of calcium per day-1,200 mg after menopause. Best sources are dairy products, like milk and yogurt, or supplements. Men need calcium too, but no more than 1,000 mg/day. Early studies suggest a possible link between too much calcium and prostate cancer.
Consider magnesium. Regular headaches, muscle aches and constipation may call for magnesium to combat the deficiency studies show most people have.
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