Calcium keeps your bones and muscles, including your heart, healthy and strong. Calcium also helps maintain bone density. With increasing age, bone density decreases naturally and people (especially women) become more susceptible to bone and degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis. Supplementing your diet with calcium is beneficial, especially when there is a family history of early bone loss.

Recommended dose: 1,000 mg a day for women 50 and younger, and 1,200 -1300mg a day for those 51 and over. UL is 2500 milligrams/day. (**UL is tolerable upper intake level)

How to take Calcium: With or without meals. 2 hours apart from taking an iron supplement or MVI.  ***It’s important to note If you have kidney disease, heart problems, or gastrointestinal issues such as chronic constipation, talk to your doctor, since additional calcium may not be recommended for you.

Your body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium property. Recently, research has linked vitamin D to playing a role in preventing osteoporosis, breast, colorectal, ovarian and other types of cancers, along with helping immunity, lowering diabetes, lowering obesity risk and even fighting depression. (Holick 2004)

Food sources of vitamin D
There are very small amounts of vitamin D in some foods and drinks, but it is difficult to get enough vitamin D from diet alone. Few foods, such as fish and eggs, naturally contain vitamin D. Most milk and milk products have added vitamin D, but most people only get a small percent of vitamin D from food.

Recommended dose: 10-15 minutes of sun exposure daily or
Adults up to age 50 – 400-800 IU daily
Adults age 50 or older – 800-1,000 IU daily
UL is 20,000 IU/day

How to take Vitamin D: With Calcium, and with or without meals. Must be taken 2 hours apart from Iron and MVI.

Antioxidants are substances that neutralise free radicals. These include the nutrient antioxidants, vitamins A, C and E, and the minerals copper, zinc and selenium. Other dietary food compounds, such as the phytochemicals in plants, are thought to have greater antioxidant effects than vitamins or minerals. Non-nutrient antioxidants and include phytochemicals, such as lycopenes in tomatoes, and anthocyanins found in cranberries.

Some studies suggest that antioxidants are less effective when isolated from food and presented in tablet form. For instance, vitamin A (beta-carotene) has been associated with a reduced risk of certain cancers but an increase in others, such as lung cancer in smokers, if vitamin A is purified from foodstuffs.

Antioxidants in foods are important to our health and research has shown having at least 5-7 servings of antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables reduces your risk of heart disease, cancers and numerous other diseases.

Recommended dose of antioxidants: Wide variety of food sources of antioxidants daily. Below you will see the recommended dietary allowances for the most powerful antioxidants:
VITAMIN A: 600-700 micrograms/day. UL is 3000micrograms/day                              Food sources of Vitamin A: Liver, dairy products, fish, darkly colored fruits and leafy vegetables.
VITAMIN C:  75- 90 milligrams/day UL is 2,000 milligrams/day                                     Food sources of Vitamin C: Citrus fruits, tomatoes, tomato juice, potatoes, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, strawberries, cabbage and spinach.
VITAMIN E: also knows as (Also known as: alpha tocopherol) 15 milligrams/day UL is 1000 milligrams/day
Food sources of Vitamin E: Vegetable oils, unprocessed cereal grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables

COPPER: 890-900 micrograms/day UL is: 10,000 mg/day
Food sources of Copper: Organ meats, seafood, nuts, seeds, wheat bran, cereals, whole grain products, cocoa.
ZINC: Men: 11-15 milligrams/day Women: 8-12milligrams/da.y UL is 40 milligrams/day Food sources: Fortified cereals, red meats, and seafood.

SELENIUM: 55-60 micrograms/day. UL is 400 micrograms/day.
Food sources of Selenium: Organ meats, seafood, plants (depending on soil selenium content)

How to take antioxidants:  Preferably in food form. May be taken in MVI and with meals.
For individual vitamin and mineral needs based on age, height, weight, gender and activity level visit: http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/interactiveDRI/ .  At this website you will also find special considerations and effects of excessive consumption of antioxidants. 

Hundreds of studies have been done on fish or fish oils and their role in the prevention or treatment of heart disease. Omega three fatty acids have also been found to reduce the risk of dementia and some cancers, and that they are important in immune system functioning and brain development. Omega three fatty acids have also been linked to decreasing inflammation in the body and joints. Both experimental and clinical evidence show that dietary fish oil supplementation decreases inflammatory and immune responses. Many studies have shown beneficial, albeit modest, effects in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (Sales et al 2008) How omega-3 fats reduce heart disease is still being determined, but they are known to lower blood triglycerides and blood pressure, prevent clotting, are anti-inflammatory and reduce abnormal heart rhythms.

One concern with fish oils is the levels of mercury in supplements. Be sure to check www.consumerlab.com for reputable sources of mercury free omega three fatty acids.

The following are approximate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids per 60g (about 2 oz) of fish:

Recommended dose: 1000 mg/day
How to take: With meals to avoid fishy reflux. May be taken in liquid, pill or chewable form (note most chewables contain considerably less than the pill form and may contain unwanted sugar and calories). Take with full glass of water.

MVI can serve as an insurance plan to help you meet the recommended RDA (recommended daily allowances) for important vitamins and minerals. When looking at taking a MVI be sure to check the label for appropriate doses of nutrients. You often want to avoid mega doses of Vitamins and minerals (anything over 150% of the RDA). Also choose a tested and verified nutrition supplement by visiting www.consumerlab.com. Multivitamins are considered by health experts to be safe for consumption.

Recommended dose: 1 daily with nutrients in the facts label meeting 50-100% of the RDA. For information on the current RDA’s visit www.consumerlab.com/rdas/  (Also see nutrients below for components of a MVI)

How to take a multivitamin: With meals. MVI’s taken on an empty stomach may cause nausea. Some minerals in common formulas may affect mineral absorption (particularly iron and calcium) therefore a MVI should be taken  2 hours apart from taking calcium and vitamin D. MVI may be taken in pill, liquid  or chewable form.

Sources:

www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
www.eatright.org
http://ods.od.nih.gov/Health_Information/Dietary_Reference_Intakes.aspx

Holick, MF. Vitamin D: Importance in the prevention of cancers, type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoporosis. AM J Clin Nutr. May 2004.

Sales C, Oliviero F, Spinella P. Fish oil supplementation in rheumatoid arthritis. Reumatismo July- Sept (3) 174-9.2008