Vitamin D supplementation does not prevent fractures or falls, or improve bone mineral density
Posted on 10/09/2018 11:25:59 AM PDT by ETL
“The effects of vitamin D on fractures, falls, and bone mineral density are uncertain, particularly for high vitamin D doses,” said lead author Dr. Mark Bolland, a researcher at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues.
“We aimed to determine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on fractures, falls, and bone density.”
In the meta-analysis, the scientists used data from 81 randomized controlled trials.
The majority of the trials studied vitamin D alone (i.e., not prescribed in conjunction with calcium supplements) and were of one year or less.
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There was no clinically meaningful effect of vitamin D supplementation on total fracture, hip fracture, or falls.
There was reliable evidence that vitamin D does not reduce total fractures, hip fractures, or falls by 15%–a clinically meaningful threshold.
Even when lower thresholds were assessed, there was still reliable evidence that vitamin D does not reduce falls by 7.5% and total fractures by 5%.
In secondary analyses looking at bone density, there were small differences for lumbar spine, femoral neck, and for total body, but none of these were clinically relevant.
In addition, the team conducted more than 60 subgroup analyses to verify their findings.
“Our meta-analysis finds that vitamin D does not prevent fractures, falls or improve bone mineral density, whether at high or low dose,” Dr. Bolland said.
“There is therefore little justification to use vitamin D supplements to maintain or improve musculoskeletal health, except for the prevention of rare conditions such as rickets and osteomalacia in high risk groups, which can occur due to vitamin D deficiency after a prolonged lack of exposure to sunshine,” the study authors said.
“Clinical guidelines that continue to recommend vitamin D supplementation for bone health should be changed to reflect the best available evidence.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
Smoking causes cancer.
there is this stuff called calcium that is also crucial for bones. Vitamin D just helps the body process calcium into bones.
I swear that some of these people write articles and papers just to see their names in print.
Shouldn’t they redo this with D & K2 supplementation?
And aren’t there a host of other illnesses associated with D deficiency?
Seems to me they haven’t done enough homework to be calling for changes in treatment protocols.
Shouldn’t they redo this with D & K2 supplementation?
And aren’t there a host of other illnesses associated with D deficiency?
Seems to me they haven’t done enough homework to be calling for changes in treatment protocols.
Vitamin D
By Mayo Clinic Staff
Vitamin D is necessary for building and maintaining healthy bones.
That’s because calcium, the primary component of bone, can only be absorbed by your body when vitamin D is present.
Your body makes vitamin D when direct sunlight converts a chemical in your skin into an active form of the vitamin (calciferol).
Vitamin D isn’t found in many foods, but you can get it from fortified milk, fortified cereal, and fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines.
The amount of vitamin D your skin makes depends on many factors, including the time of day, season, latitude and your skin pigmentation. Depending on where you live and your lifestyle, vitamin D production might decrease or be completely absent during the winter months. Sunscreen, while important, also can decrease vitamin D production.
Many older adults don’t get regular exposure to sunlight and have trouble absorbing vitamin D, so taking a multivitamin with vitamin D will likely help improve bone health. The recommended daily amount of vitamin D is 400 international units (IU) for children up to age 12 months, 600 IU for ages 1 to 70 years, and 800 IU for people over 70 years.
Evidence
Research on vitamin D use for specific conditions shows:
Cancer. Research suggests that vitamin D, especially when taken with calcium, might help prevent certain cancers.
Cognitive health. Early research suggests that vitamin D might play a role in cognitive health. In one small study of adults age 60 years and older being treated for dementia, researchers found that taking a vitamin D supplement helped improve cognitive function.
Inherited disorders. Vitamin D supplements can be used to help treat inherited disorders resulting from an inability to absorb or process vitamin D, such as familial hypophosphatemia.
Multiple sclerosis. Research suggests that long-term vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of multiple sclerosis.
Osteomalacia. Vitamin D supplements are used to treat adults with severe vitamin D deficiency, resulting in loss of bone mineral content, bone pain, muscle weakness and soft bones (osteomalacia).
Osteoporosis. Studies suggest that people who get enough vitamin D and calcium in their diets can slow bone mineral loss, help prevent osteoporosis and reduce bone fractures.
Psoriasis. Applying vitamin D or a topical preparation that contains a vitamin D compound called calcipotriene to the skin can treat plaque-type psoriasis in some people.
Rickets. This rare condition develops in children with vitamin D deficiency. Supplementing with vitamin D can prevent and treat the problem.
Without vitamin D your bones can become soft, thin and brittle. Insufficient vitamin D is also connected to osteoporosis and some types of cancer. If you don’t get enough vitamin D through sunlight or dietary sources, you might need vitamin D supplements.
Safety and side effects
Taken in appropriate doses, vitamin D is generally considered safe.
However, taking too much vitamin D can be harmful. Children age 9 years and older, adults, and pregnant and breast-feeding women who take more than 4,000 IU a day of vitamin D might experience:
Nausea
Vomiting
Poor appetite
Constipation
Weakness
Weight loss
Confusion
Disorientation
Heart rhythm problems
Kidney damage
Interactions
Possible interactions include:
Aluminum. Taking vitamin D and aluminum-containing phosphate binders long term might cause harmful levels of aluminum in people with kidney failure.
Anticonvulsants. The anticonvulsants phenobarbital and phenytoin (Dilantin, Phenytek) increase the breakdown of vitamin D and reduce calcium absorption.
Atorvastatin (Lipitor). Taking vitamin D might affect the way your body processes this cholesterol drug.
Calcipotriene (Dovonex). Don’t take vitamin D with this psoriasis drug. The combination might increase the risk of too much calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia).
Cholestyramine (Prevalite). Taking this weight-loss drug can reduce your absorption of vitamin D.
Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) substrates. Use vitamin D cautiously if you’re taking drugs processed by these enzymes.
Digoxin (Lanoxin). Avoid taking high doses of vitamin D with this heart medication. High doses of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, which increases the risk of fatal heart problems with digoxin.
Diltiazem (Cardizem, Tiazac). Avoid taking high doses of vitamin D with this blood pressure drug. High doses of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, which might reduce the drug’s effectiveness.
Orlistat (Xenical, Alli). Taking this weight-loss drug can reduce your absorption of vitamin D.
Thiazide diuretics. These blood pressure drugs might decrease urinary calcium excretion. This could lead to hypercalcemia if you are taking vitamin D.
Steroids. Taking steroid mediations such as prednisone can reduce calcium absorption and impair your body’s processing of vitamin D.
Stimulant laxatives. Long-term use of high doses of stimulant laxatives can reduce vitamin D and calcium absorption.
Verapamil (Verelan, Calan). Avoid taking high doses of vitamin D with this blood pressure drug. High doses of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, which might reduce the drug’s effectiveness.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-vitamin-d/art-20363792
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Increased my bone density by an average of 4% from age 72 to 74
And I have the bone density reports to prove it.
After reading all those warnings, I’m afraid to keep taking it.
not surprised because bones are made up of more then just Vit D, they obviously need all the proper chemicals (vit/mineral etc)
In humans, the most important compounds in this group are vitamin D3 (also known as cholecalciferol) and vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol).[2]
Cholecalciferol and ergocalciferol can be ingested from the diet and from supplements.[2][3][4]
Only a few foods contain vitamin D. The major natural source of the vitamin is synthesis of cholecalciferol in the skin from cholesterol through a chemical reaction that is dependent on sun exposure (specifically UVB radiation).
Dietary recommendations typically assume that all of a person’s vitamin D is taken by mouth, as sun exposure in the population is variable and recommendations about the amount of sun exposure that is safe are uncertain in view of the skin cancer risk.[5]
Vitamin D from the diet or skin synthesis is biologically inactive; enzymatic conversion (hydroxylation) in the liver and kidney is required for activation.
As vitamin D can be synthesized in adequate amounts by most mammals exposed to sufficient sunlight, it is not an essential dietary factor, and so not technically a vitamin.[4]
Instead it could be considered a hormone, with activation of the vitamin D pro-hormone resulting in the active form, calcitriol, which then produces effects via a nuclear receptor in multiple locations.[4]
Cholecalciferol is converted in the liver to calcifediol (25-hydroxycholecalciferol); ergocalciferol is converted to 25-hydroxyergocalciferol.
These two vitamin D metabolites (called 25-hydroxyvitamin D or 25(OH)D) are measured in serum to determine a person’s vitamin D status.[6][7]
Calcifediol is further hydroxylated by the kidneys to form calcitriol (also known as 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), the biologically active form of vitamin D.[8]
Calcitriol circulates as a hormone in the blood, having a major role regulating the concentration of calcium and phosphate, and promoting the healthy growth and remodeling of bone.
Calcitriol also has other effects, including some on cell growth, neuromuscular and immune functions, and reduction of inflammation.[5]
Vitamin D has a significant role in calcium homeostasis and metabolism. Its discovery was due to effort to find the dietary substance lacking in children with rickets (the childhood form of osteomalacia).[9]
Vitamin D supplements are given to treat or to prevent osteomalacia and rickets, but the evidence for other health effects of vitamin D supplementation in the general population is inconsistent.[10][11]
The effect of vitamin D supplementation on mortality is not clear, with one meta-analysis finding a small decrease in mortality in elderly people,[12] and another concluding no clear justification exists for recommending supplementation for preventing many diseases, and that further research of similar design is unneeded in these areas.[13]
How convenient. Many academics are too lazy to perform an actual clinical study so they glean data from other studies and do spiffy statistical models to show "no effect".
My expert opinion: Eat calcium, and get plenty of sun exposure (to hell with the dermatologists). If you cannot get sun exposure take VitD3.
But it also does not hurt it.
I take Vitamin D.
You can tell you are getting enough when you start having pleasant dreams.
Take MAGNESIUM!!! if you start getting muscle cramps.
What a terrible Study. Even getting the Vit D3 Supplements, the patients only achieved a a Vit D3 Level of 20 ng/ml – 30 ng/ml (I converted from nmol/L, WAY TOO LOW.
The latest research indicates that a person should be at least 40 ng/ml and should aim for 60 ng/ml to 80 ng/ml.
“The majority of trials (91%) reported achieving 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations of 50 nmol/L or more, and about half reported achieving 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations of 75 nmol/L or more.”
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Bad study!
Was it deliberate? I think so.
D3 must be used with the correct variant of K2 to get the full benefit.
But they don’t want us to get any benefit. That is what these ‘studies’ are all about.
Lose your ducktor’s address and phone number, and get healthy!
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“Shouldn’t they redo this with D & K2 supplementation?”
Exactly. Not to mention that the dosage used was far below what’s necessary for any meaningful therapeutic response.
Had a neighbor who was told to take a lot of calcium after recovering from a broken leg
Ended up with major heart surgery after his heart valves calcified.
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>> “Shouldn’t they redo this with D & K2 supplementation?” <<
Yes! - Absolutely.
Nothing in nutrition can work alone; the entire 97 elements of nutrition must be in your diet.
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>> “Ended up with major heart surgery after his heart valves calcified.” <<
Absolute bovine excrement!
You have to have all of the light metals in balance or you end up with cataracts and spurs.
His valve problem was more likely a ph problem.
So they don't really know.
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