Vitamin D pills could prevent falls

Vitamin D supplements could significantly reduce the risk of falls among older people, researchers reported today.

Falls are extremely common in people aged 65 years or older – one in three experiences at least one fall, of which nine per cent require emergency hospital treatment and five to six per cent result in a fracture.

Vitamin D is thought to have direct effects on muscle strength. Deficiency is reversible with the use of supplements and leads to improved strength and balance, and a lower risk of falls.

Professor Heike A Bischoff-Ferrari of University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, and colleagues carried out a thorough analysis of the research.

They included eight reliable studies, in which 2,426 participants were randomly given vitamin D tablets or placebo. Vitamin D2 and Vitamin D3 were both used.

On the website of the British Medical Journal, they report: "High-dose supplemental vitamin D [700-1000 International Units per day] reduced fall risk by 19 per cent." The benefit was seen regardless of the type of vitamin D, gender or age. Falls were reduced by up to 26 per cent with vitamin D3.

They explain that because they found a greater fall reduction in studies with a maximum daily dose of 1,000 IU, "our analyses don’t preclude the possibility that higher doses of vitamin D or higher achieved serum concentrations would have been even more efficient in reducing falls".

They conclude that vitamin D is clearly beneficial, but add: "Our results do not support the clinical use of vitamin D doses below 700 IU a day for the prevention of falls among older individuals."

Bischoff-Ferrari, H. A. et al. Fall prevention with supplemental and active forms of vitamin D: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. The British Medical Journal, 2009;339:b3692.