As you grow older your skeletal muscle slowly dwindles, you lose muscle strength, and your figure changes. This phenomenon is known as sarcopenia and is one of the main reasons why older people gradually become frail and perhaps even invalid. Both diet and exercise play an important role and according to a new study from Trinity College Dublin, lack of vitamin D also plays a major contribution to the development of poor muscle control in people from 60 years of age and older. It doesn’t make things easier that we are only able to synthesize vitamin D in our skin during the summer period and the ability to do so decreases with age. For that reason, older people should pay careful attention to getting plenty of vitamin D all year round to maintain as much muscle mass as possible and ensure that their muscles function properly.

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- but fish oil helps as prevention

Breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. The diet has huge importance and according to a new Polish study, eating more fish with omega-3 fatty acids may help lower the risk of developing the disease. The study supports earlier research by showing that in order to prevent breast cancer, it is vital to consume plenty of omega-3. The best sources of these essential fatty acids are oily fish and fish oil supplements. The preventive effect of omega-3 is increased additionally if you also get plenty of vitamin D and selenium.

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The number of children and adolescents with ADHD has skyrocketed in the past decade, and the human and socioeconomic costs are enormous. A major cause may be the widespread problems with vitamin D deficiency, according to a study from Turku University in Finland. It does not make things any easier that sun awareness campaigns fail to give people an alternative way of getting enough vitamin D all year around, and it is also a problem that many pregnant women don’t take their supplements as recommended.

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The mitochondria are the energy-producing powerplants in cells that have numerous essential functions. They need plenty of vitamin D, which we get from the sun, but they also require melatonin, a substance that we synthesize in response to nightfall. Around the clock, these two compounds complement each other in protecting the mitochondria and the cells. But ageing and our modern lifestyle may reduce the body’s ability to produce the two substances and this may lead to insomnia and a host of different diseases such as infections, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, dementia, and cancer. Of course, older people are more vulnerable. However, with supplements it is possible to compensate for the reduced endogenous synthesis of melatonin and vitamin D, according to an article that is published in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

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An international science team from the University of Surrey in England has found a link between low selenium levels in the soil and the risk od COVID-19 infections becoming lethal. Professor Margaret Rayman, who headed the study, has spent decades studying the global lack of selenium that is known to impair the ability of the immune system to tackle virus infections and new epidemics. The farmlands in large parts of the world, including Europe and China, are low in selenium, and it is vital to have more focus on this essential nutrient.

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Australian scientists are about to initiate the first clinical trial of intravenous zinc therapy for COVID-19 patients. Zinc is important for our immune capacity but it also helps counteract organ damage caused by an impaired oxygen supply to the cells and hyperinflammation. Zinc deficiencies are common, especially among older people, chronically ill, and other exposed groups.

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