However, it should be noted that health food cannot claim to have the function of treating and preventing diseases.
View function
The functional symbols claimed by products do not meet their own demands, which should at least be paid attention to.
Although the product my grandmother bought is a regular health food for the police mobile force, its function is claimed to be "preventing visual fatigue". Obviously, this has nothing to do with my grandmother's desire to see more clearly.
Check the brand
My mother searched online and found that this product was found to have exceeded the standard 15 times in the sampling inspection by relevant government departments last year.
In other words, the brand may have problems in the production environment and so on, which may easily lead to the worrying quality of the final product, so it is considered as a brand with a bad record.
So my mom thinks it's definitely not reliable.
In this regard, I very much agree with my mother's judgment and encourage everyone to vote with their feet. For example, brands with different levels of product quality problems really don't choose.
Pay attention to sales channels
There is another kind of products on the market, the quality should be no problem, but there are often excessive publicity, especially some brands that use WeChat merchants' agents and direct sales methods, so we should be more cautious.
Like my grandmother, this may be even more excessive, because it is telemarketing and cash on delivery, so there is no chance to judge and review. Many of them are elderly people, and the products are delivered to your door as soon as you call. They paid a large sum of money on the spot and had no chance to regret it. ......
For example, I can't find the general price of this brand. But in any case, 9,000 yuan for health food is obviously very low in terms of cost performance.
So I communicated with my grandmother that I fully understood her desire to make her eyes see more clearly, and I could get some help from eating related products, but I must buy really suitable products. From the perspective of safety and cost performance, I might as well choose a formula with more reliable brand and more transparent and reasonable ingredients.
2. Are antioxidant supplements useful for eyes?
Important reasons affecting the eyesight of the elderly
Age-related macular degeneration is a very important cause of vision loss in the elderly. The mechanism behind it is generally considered to be related to the damage accumulation of oxidative stress. However, the more exact mechanism has not been thoroughly studied.
But there is positive clinical trial evidence about this disease. Therefore, this is also a rare field where health food or dietary supplements seem to be effective.
What natural foods are helpful?
There are more lutein and zeaxanthin in macular area of retina, which affects fine vision. It is generally encouraged to eat more fruits and vegetables rich in lutein and zeaxanthin to combat visual fatigue and blue light damage.
According to lutein statistics alone, spinach, fish, Chinese cabbage, pistachios and eggs are relatively rich. An egg contains lutein about 0. 14 mg, and the highest one should be spinach-100 g. Raw spinach contains lutein 6.6 mg. In addition, kale, coriander and green peas are all natural foods with high lutein content.
However, because the diet structure of the elderly may not be able to get enough effective ingredients from the daily diet, you can consider buying supplements at this time.
What kind of supplements are helpful?
What formula?
AREDS II, a famous large-scale clinical trial, found that eating dietary supplements containing special antioxidant ingredients can improve age-related macular degeneration.
At first, this formula used vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc and beta-carotene. The results show that it can alleviate the condition of age-related macular degeneration within five years of follow-up, improve the visual adaptability of elderly women aged 50 to 80 in dark conditions, and may help prevent retinal damage.
Later, there was a formula that added lutein, zeaxanthin or ω-3 fatty acids, and no special benefits were found. It seems that β -carotene is not necessary.
However, considering that the use of β -carotene will increase the possibility of smokers suffering from lung cancer, and the absorption of carotenoids has competitive inhibition problems, lutein and zeaxanthin can be used instead of β -carotene
Therefore, the combination of "vitamin C+ vitamin E+ zinc+lutein+zeaxanthin" has formed a popular formula in the dietary supplement market.
What's the dosage?
This is another controversial place. To put it simply, we are not sure how much this supplement should be eaten at present.
In the initial clinical trial, about 10 mg lutein and 2 mg zeaxanthin were eaten every day.
But on the one hand, apart from this disease, many other studies have not found that antioxidant supplementation is beneficial to health. On the other hand, the effectiveness of supplements is closely related to your own dietary intake.
The good news is that the subjects of this large-scale clinical trial are generally people with higher education and good nutritional status. This situation may be close to those readers who can afford to make up for it now, so it is still of reference value.
But it should be reminded that different people, different eating habits and even the same person will eat different foods in different seasons.
Dietary surveys show that in Europe, such as Spain, the total daily intake of carotenoids is about 3.5 mg, and in Germany it may be 5.33 mg. A study on the elderly in the United States shows that the average daily intake of men is 2.7 mg and that of women is 3.09 mg.
Therefore, most products on the market contain 15-20 mg lutein, which is beyond the range of dietary intake. You don't have to pursue a higher dose. Just buy any one.
Single or compound?
Apart from what I said above, my personal suggestion is that everyone try to choose a single ingredient.
For example, the formula of this kind of products bought by my grandmother will be very different. Some contain several antioxidants, and some even contain fish oil and multivitamins. The more complex it is, the more unfavorable it is to evaluate its risks and benefits.
So I don't recommend you to buy multiple composite products. Supplements should be as simple as possible, and the more kinds of food, the better.
It's the same as when taking medicine at ordinary times. Choose fewer compound drugs to avoid overdose caused by the superposition of drugs from different sources.
3. Why do elders buy health care products?
Physical needs
My grandmother explained that she didn't have to buy health food, and she knew that eating natural food could achieve it.
That's a good idea. I have repeatedly stressed that for the general population, as long as they have a balanced diet every day, there is no need to eat health food.
But that's the general population after all. My grandmother is 90 years old. She has had surgery almost every year in the past two years, and her physical condition is very poor, and her digestion and absorption function is different from that of the general population.
For example, my grandmother bought health care products, the iconic ingredients are anthocyanins and lutein, which are colorful natural foods. But as an old lady with few muscles and insufficient calorie intake, she is at risk of losing weight. At this time, the focus should be on ensuring calories and protein, rather than eating a lot of fruits and vegetables to expect to bring some benefits to her eyes.
So it is a good choice to buy suitable health food at this time.
psychological need
In addition, I personally feel that my grandmother must still have psychological needs. I hope that it is easy to understand that "eating some products can realize the relevant demands". Empathy is that many young people now love to buy various supplements, hoping to achieve the goal of whitening and slimming.
I think it is worthwhile to give her a placebo for a little money if it is safe and has no side effects.
So I immediately said, I will place an order that night, and you can eat what I bought for you later.
4. How to prevent elders from buying health care products indiscriminately?
Active purchase
The above-mentioned elderly people do have the need to buy health care products, but instead of letting their elders with relatively weak discrimination choose the products that suit them from the dazzling array of health care products on the market, it is better to just say, like me, "I will buy them now!" "
When choosing products for elders, besides choosing big brands, it is more secure. One trick is to choose not to understand and package bluffing. ....
For example, this time, I first looked at the products that are more convenient to buy in China, but considering that I bought this product for my grandmother before, she will be uneasy and may think that these common brands are not so good. So this time I still give priority to foreign brands. Anyway, grandma can't read foreign languages, so she can't evaluate them. At this time, it would be better to add some propaganda and literature materials that they can understand.
So I looked at some related products of foreign popular brands, compared the prices and ingredients, and roughly screened them.
Of course, the premise of these is that you need to have a clear scientific understanding of health care products and be able to distinguish whether the products are compliant and suitable. I wrote all this knowledge in the previous article, and it is basically no problem to buy it for my elders after reading it.
Accompany more
Finally, I want to say that many middle-aged and elderly people are addicted to the promotion of health care products and devices, which is often related to their lonely old age. The most important thing is to cultivate middle-aged and elderly people's hobbies, enrich their healthy entertainment life in their later years, give their children care and patient comfort, and give them a full and happy inner world.