The two keys to healthy ageing – and you’re probably deficient in both

You are probably deficient in two key vitamins and minerals that will determine how well you age, scientists have discovered this week.

Selenium is vital for cell health, and any deficiency could trigger any of the age-related diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and loss of brain function, say researchers from the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, California.

Vitamin K is also vital for healthy ageing, they have discovered.

Dr Gerald Weissman, editor of the FASEB Journal in which the study has been published, says: “This paper should settle any debate about the importance of taking a good, complete multi-vitamin every day. As this report shows, taking a multi-vitamin that contains selenium is a good way to prevent deficiencies that, over time, can cause harm in ways that we are just beginning to understand.”

(Source: FASEB Journal, 2011; doi: 10.1096/fj.11-180885).

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