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Biochemical evaluation of the vitamin and iron status of an apparently healthy Dutch free-living elderly population. Comparison with younger adults.

In order to obtain information on "normal" values, the vitamin and iron status have been investigated of an apparently healthy Dutch elderly population, living in their own homes in the centre of the Netherlands. In total 99 women and 99 men (overall mean age 72 yrs) volunteered in the study. By omitting the elderly suffering from one or more diseases as well as those using vitamin supplements, 131 aged people were selected for the biochemical evaluation of the vitamin and iron status of healthy elderly. Results have been compared with those obtained for healthy adults below 50 years of age. The "normal" values obtained appear to deviate significantly from those of the group of apparently healthy younger adults for several vitamins. Especially, lower values were observed for the vitamin A, total carotenoids, vitamin D, B6, B12 and folic acid status. Furthermore, lower serum iron and iron saturation as well as creatinine excretion with the urine were found as compared to healthy younger adults. Apparently, only in the case of vitamin B6, there is serious doubt about the adequacy of the status of the elderly, which needs further investigation. As far as has been investigated, it appeared that reference values derived from a population of apparently healthy adults below 50 years of age are not applicable to apparently healthy elderly.