Vitamin D supplements are widely recommended for good bone health, but there is no consistent scientific data on whether they prevent fractures, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the second largest teaching hospital at Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with researchers from the Universities of California and Creighton University School of Medicine in the United States, conducted a secondary study, part of a comprehensive research project referred to as VITAL, to test the effect of vitamin A. D and omega-3s, and whether vitamin D3 supplementation reduced fracture risk compared to placebo.
Vitamin D3 and Omega-3
The trial included testing whether doses of supplemental vitamin D3 up to about 2,000 IU per day and/or 1 gram per day of omega-3 capsules prevent bone fractures or prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease in men 50 years of age or older. Older and women 55 years of age or older.
Participant selection controls
Study participants were not selected on the basis of vitamin D deficiency, low bone mass, or osteoporosis. The 25,871 study participants, 50.6% of whom were women, also reported accident-related bone fractures in annual questionnaires as well as a review of their central medical records, to determine whether the fractures were total, non-vertebral, or hip fractures.
Surprising results
Study results through follow-up as well as analysis of reports, questionnaires, and medical records reported that, compared to placebo, vitamin D3 supplementation had no significant effect on total fractures, which occurred in 769 of 12,927 participants in the vitamin D group and in 782 of 12,944 participants in the placebo group. . The same results apply to cases of non-vertebral or femoral fractures.
Neither the healthy nor the old
The researchers concluded that vitamin 3D supplementation did not lead to a significantly lower risk of fracture compared to study participants in either middle-aged generally healthy subjects or older adults, who were not selected because of vitamin D deficiency or low bone mass. or osteoporosis.