Doubts over vit D therapy

Wednesday May 12th, 2010

Vitamin D has been touted as a treatment for fragile bones - but a new analysis warns it may increase the rate of injuries among the elderly.

Australian researchers set out to establish if the vitamin would help reduce falls and fractures among elderly women.

More than 2,000 women took part in the research and more than 1,600 suffered at least one fall in a five year period. In total there were more than 5,000 falls.

Among women who took vitamin D, some 74 per cent suffered a fall and 171 suffered an injury. Just 68 per cent of those who took dummy pills had falls and 135 experienced fractures, according to the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study used high doses of vitamin D - suggesting that too much vitamin might be responsible for upsetting women's sense of balance.

Researcher Dr Kerrie Sanders, of the University of Melbourne, Geelong, Australia, wrote:

"This is the first study to demonstrate increased risk of falls associated with any vitamin D intervention and the second study to demonstrate an increased fracture risk associated with annual high-dose vitamin D therapy in elderly women."

In a commentary in the journal Dr Bess Dawson-Hughes and Dr Susan Harris, of Tufts University, Boston, USA, call for more research on the effect of vitamin D on the human body.

They write: "In the mean time, it is important to reiterate that although vitamin D insufficiency is widespread, it can be safely corrected with a variety of existing supplement types and regimens and it should continue to be identified and treated in clinical practice."

JAMA. 2010;303[18]:1815-1822

Tags: Australia | Diet & Food | Geriatric Health | Orthopaedics

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