Vitamins On the Go

Don’t forget to pack the vitamins! Believe it or not, vitamins on vacation – or whatever your reason for travelling – are as important as they are at home. In many cases even more so. The stresses of travel, though they often go unnoticed, can be significant.

If you’re travelling to warm or tropical places, be sure that the vitamins you take are in opaque containers and that you keep them in a cool place, not out in the sun. Pack a good sun-screening cream with PABA or a vitamin-E preparation [20,000 IU]. If you have been taking vitamin-D supplements and want to get off for a while, this is the time. A wise choice of vitamins to bring along would be:

High-potency multiple vitamin and minerals [take 1 with breakfast and dinner]

Vitamin E, 400 IU [dry form]

[take 1-2 daily]

Vitamin C, 1,000 mg. with bioflavonoids [take with breakfast and dinner]

Stress В complex, 50 mg. [take 2-3 times daily]

If you’re heading to chillier environs, be sure to take plenty of vitamin С [time release recommended], and if you plan to be indoors a lot, vitamin D also. The vitamins listed above will work in any climate, but if you do find yourself in an area colder than you’re used to, remember to take the vitamin С with all your meals instead of just breakfast and dinner.

Acidophilus can be a traveler’s best friend. If you’re travelling to foreign ports, keep in mind that acidophilus [3 capsules or 2 tablespoons liquid] three times a day is good for diarrhea prevention.

Are Foreign Vitamins Different?

Vitamins the world over are the same, only dosages vary. Read the label. The metric system is used internationally for measurement, and nutrients are measures by weight. In the metric system, the energy value of food is measured in units called joules, or kilocalories, better known as calories. Four of our calories are the equivalent of 17 joules. In other words, a joule is slightly more than four times a calorie.

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Who does migrate? Charles Longino offers some clues by charting the flow of older people into and out of particular states over the past few decades. This University of Miami demographer calls Florida a migration “winner” because older people who move there from other parts of the country are mainly younger (in their sixties), more affluent, and healthy. Migrants from Florida to other states (usually northern or mid-western ones) are likely to be older (over age seventy-five), poorer, and more in need of nursing-home care or help with living independently.

California is a “winner” or “loser” depending on the state it is being compared with. It gains in exchange with Illinois, because older migrants from Illinois to California are better off than people who migrate in the opposite direction. But because Arizona has replaced California as a destination for young, well-off retirees, California now “loses” in comparison with its neighbor to the southwest.

The comparisons made by Longino and his colleagues show there are fashions in retirement locations. By analyzing migration patterns from 1960 to 1980, they find that Florida, Arizona, and Texas are becoming more attractive as retirement destinations, while the lure of once very desirable California and New Jersey has waned. More important, their figures show that today there are two types of retirement moves: the well-known exodus to the “hot” (literally and figuratively) retirement states made by more youthful, fairly well-off people just after retirement, and a smaller, less-noticed reverse migration years later. Some retirees who moved “forever” to a Sunbelt state in their sixties are forced to return to their home states in their eighties when they become physically frail, have trouble living by themselves, and need their families near. There can come a time when people are “too old” to stay in their retirement homes.

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GENERAL HEALTH