Study Supports Vitamin D to Reduce Fracture Risk

Let’s hear it for vitamin D. A small but significant study in Sao Paulo, Brazil, found that taking 1, 000 IU of vitamin D 3 times per day over 9 months strengthened muscle mass in postmenopausal women who were at risk of falling, according to Parker Brown, staff writer for MedPage Today.

Researchers in Sao Paulo performed a randomized trial and found that supplementation was associated with a significant increase in muscle strength (+23%) in the chair raising test (P<0.036) compared with placebo, and those on placebo faced a 1.9 times higher risk of falling (95% CI 1.23-3.08) and 2.8 times higher risk of recurrent falling (95% CI 1.43-5.50) than did those in the vitamin D group.

Brown reported that, “…those in the placebo group had more loss of muscle mass (-6.8%) than those in the vitamin D group (P=0.030) as measured by total-body DXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry). And vitamin 25 (OH) D levels increased from 15.0 ng/ml (±7.5) to 27.5 ng/ml (±10.4) in the supplementation group (n=80) and decreased from 16.9 to 13.8 ng/ml in the placebo group (n=80; P<0.001), according to the researchers, who were led by Dr. L.M. Cangussu, at the Botucatu Medical School at Sao Paulo State University.”

The participants in the study were Brazilians between the ages of 50 to 65. All had a history of falls. The mean age of the patients was 58.8 in the vitamin D group and 59.3 in the placebo group.

“While this study is unlikely to decide the debate over vitamin D, it provides further evidence to support the use of vitamin D supplements by postmenopausal women in an effort to reduce frailty and an increased risk of falling, ” said Wulf Utian, M.D., Ph.D., DSc(Med), the executive director of the North American Menopause Society.