Vitamin D Supplementation Does Not Improve Bone Health, Meta-Analysis Shows

Sci-News.com ^ | Oct 9, 2018 | News Staff / Source

[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.”

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[Texan5]

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