Surprising new research has found that taking vitamin D or calcium does not help prevent repeat fractures in elderly people. In two studies by teams at Aberdeen and York universities, researchers looked at people who had already had a fracture due to osteoporosis, a condition which increases a person's risk of bone fractures.
Many older people take vitamin D and calcium to try to protect their bones, but the study found those taking supplements did not have fewer fractures. Osteoporosis campaigners however say taking supplements of Vitamin D and calcium are not harmful, but do advise elderly people concerned about their bone health to eat a healthy balanced diet. Vitamin D can be obtained from foods including fatty fish like salmon, and milk products.
Professor Adrian Grant and his researchers, randomly assigned the 5,300 people over 70 taking part in the study, recruited from 21 hospitals across the UK, either to take a dummy pill, a daily supplement of vitamin D, calcium or both supplements together.
They were then followed up for between 24 and 62 months. In that time a total of 698 people experienced a fracture, but the incidence of fracture did not differ between the groups.
A second study looked at 3,314 women aged 70 and over at high risk of hip fracture, half were given calcium and vitamin D tablets to take daily, the rest just received a leaflet on diet and prevention of falls. All were monitored for an average of two years and fracture rates in the two groups were not significantly different.
The studies only examined the effect of taking vitamin D and/or calcium on people who had already had a fracture, but were taking no other medication. They did not look at people taking bisphosphonates, drugs which stop further loss of bone mass, or people living in care homes. According to previous studies both these groups do benefit from taking vitamin D and calcium.
Professor Adrian Grant, who led the research, said older, frailer people were more likely to have vitamin D deficiency and therefore to benefit from supplements. He says their study indicates that routine supplementation with calcium and vitamin D, either alone or in combination, is not effective in the prevention of further fractures. The research also confirms that the use of bone active drugs may be a more appropriate approach.