The Importance of Nutrition after 50

With old age comes a host of different health problems and aliments. If we are not careful during our young age, our old age can be very painful and diseases ridden. Most people lead a stressful life with long hours of commuting and even longer hours of work. This coupled with unhealthy diets, bad lifestyle choices like smoking and alcohol consumption, irregular sleep patterns and little or no exercise causes poor health. These people face a grater risk on contracting many age related diseases and aliments. This is why it is very important that you get the right amount of nutrition on a daily basis, along with regular exercise and properly sleep so as to ensure a health and problem free future. After we cross a certain age, in take of some nutrients becomes more important. We can get these nutrients from a diet we follow or with the help of health and nutrient supplements. An important nutrient is Glycyrrhiza Glabra which is called Mulethi in hindi. It has a number of health benefits; it strengthens the body’s immune system and helps in managing day to day aliments like asthma, acute and chronic bronchitis and chronic cough especially in late middle age people. It contains antioxidants which help destroy toxic substances in our body and acts as a mild anti-inflammatory agent in cases of arthritis and rheumatism. It can be used to treat gastric and mouth ulcers and helps in regulating blood pressure. It has laxative properties and is known to enhance learning and memory power by increasing the release of neuro- transmitters. Withania Somnifera also known as ginseng is known to help cure weakness in old people and slow down the ageing process. It also helps in curing insomnia and relieves pain in the hip and back. It improves eye sight, cures constipation and increase over all stamina and sperm count in men. Zinc is another essential mineral that’s plays an important role in fertility. It aids production of sex hormones and selenium which is essential in enhancing sperm mobility. It is also known to have a beneficial role in prostate cancer prevention. Calcium and vitamin D is essential for old people as it helps strengthen bones and maintain bone density. Magnesium supplemented with calcium improves the bone’s mineral density and helps in preventing osteoporosis. Another important benefit of magnesium is that it reduces the risk of contracting coronary heart diseases and plays an important role in regulation blood pressure. Magnesium aids in carbohydrate metabolism which impacts insulin activity thus controlling blood glucose levels. Deficiency of this mineral can cause type two diabetes, migraines, insomnia and symptoms of depression. Phosphorous is important as it helps bone formation, aids digestion, excretion, protein formation, encourages hormone balance, energy extraction, cell repair and nutrition utilization. Last but not the least is iron.  Iron gives us energy. Its present in blood cells and its main function is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles and organs. Iron deficiency known as anemia causes low consumption of oxygen and is very common amongst women in India. Therefore it is very important to include all the nutrients mentioned above into our daily diet to make sure we are always healthy regardless of how old we are. Since it might be difficult to find food items that contain all these nutrients, vitamins and minerals it is easier to consume a nutrient supplement. These supplements should be taken on a daily basis and should contain all the necessary ingredients mentioned above. An example of a supplement that contains them is Hexagon’s Geria Gold.