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Vitamins and the Aging Process

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Geriatrics 2

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Abstract

For cells and organs to survive, the organism must obtain various carbon compounds, either preformed or as precursors, from its environment. These compounds are obtained from foods and, together with various minerals, water, and oxygen, comprise the approximately 50 essential nutrients in human nutrition. Vitamins represent a category of nutrients and they are of interest in reference to the aging human, particularly in view of evidence that elderly subjects or population groups may be deficient in one or more specific vitamins (e.g. Exton-Smith and Scott 1968; Exton-Smith 1980; Brin and Bauernfeind 1978; Albanese 1980) and the possibility that some vitamins may be intimately associated with the cellular mechanisms responsible for aging. In addition, an understanding of the role of vitamins in health and disease by the public has not always been adequate and this might lead to inappropriate dietary habits, especially in the elderly.

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Authors
  1. V. R. Young
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Gerontologie der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg und 2. Medizinische Klinik Klinikum Nürnberg, Flurstraße 17, D-8500, Nürnberg, Germany

    Dieter Platt

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Young, V.R. (1983). Vitamins and the Aging Process. In: Platt, D. (eds) Geriatrics 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68217-9_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-68217-9_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-68219-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-68217-9

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