Meta-analysis concludes vitamin D supplements help prevent fractures

The March 23, 2009 issue of the American Medical Association journal Archives of Internal Medicine reported the results of a meta-analysis conducted at the University of Zurich in Switzerland which concluded that supplementing with vitamin D was effective for preventing fractures in older men and women, as long as higher dose supplements were used.

Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari, DrPH, University Hospital, Zurich, and his associates selected twelve clinical trials which investigated the effect of oral vitamin D supplements on non-spinal fractures that included a total of 42,279 participants aged 65 or older. Eight of the trials examined the supplements' effect on hip fractures.The pooled analysis found a 14 percent decrease in nonvertebral fracture risk and a 9 percent decrease in hip fracture for subjects who received vitamin D supplements.

When data from the nine trials which tested a dose of vitamin D greater than 400 international units per day were combined in a separate analysis, a 20 percent reduction in nonvertebral fractures and an 18 percent decrease in hip fracture risk were revealed. For the three high quality trials in which the dose of vitamin D was 380 international units or less, no effect on fracture risk was noted. Continue Reading