Senior citizens between ages 70 and 79 who do not obtain sufficient amounts of vitamin D from a combination of sunlight and their diets will see their personal mobility began to deteriorate years before their nutritionally-stable counterparts.
The study of 2100 people between ages 70 and 80 found that those with the lowest levels of vitamin D were the most likely to see their ability to move about independently undergo severe restrictions as their ability to be mobile simply starts to deteriorate. It is believed that vitamin D3 supplemets are the best way to go about reversing the deficiency in those whose levels don't make the cut.
The scientists who conducted the clinical trial believe that there is a two-pronged reason why so many within this age demographic are on the short end of the vitamin D stick: 1) The elderly are far less likely to go out sunbathing on a hot summer day than someone in his or her 20's, 30's or even 40's. The decline in physical activity means less time outdoors, which when combined with a diet that does not supply adequate amounts of the nutrient the result is an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency.
Elderly Not Getting Vitamin D3 From Sun
Since people in their 70's are not likely to get out and start sunbathing on a regular basis, experts are confident that the best solution is to put the vitamin D deficient septegenarians on a supplementation regimen, the frequency and dosage of which would be determined by thier primary care doctor.
One interesting thing to note about this study is that for a first-of-its-kind study, the results were fairly definitive and no further studies should be needed to reestablish te same point. Vitamin D3 Supplementation does in fact help to keep seniors mobile longer, and further expenditures to re-evaluate the same situation (which is more often than not standard operating procedure in the world of science, believe it or not) would be complete and total waste of time, money and effort.
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