Many Older Germans Taking Far Too Much Vitamin E, Magnesium, Not Enough Vitamin D

German scientists who investigated the prevalence of dietary supplement use among older people in the city of Augsburg found that those who took magnesium and vitamin were overdoing it. The data from men and women aged 65 and older showed that 54 percent of the women and 34 percent of the men take dietary supplements. In both sexes, scientists found, the ingested doses of magnesium and vitamin E frequently exceeded European Food Safety Authority tolerability standards. The doses were too high in 20 percent of the females and 33 percent of the males regularly taking magnesium and in 8 and 14 percent, respectively. Vitamin D, frequently recommended by doctors for this age group for bone health, was taken by relatively few older people.