Vitamin D and calcium may not stop bone fractures

Scientists at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland found that giving vitamin D and calcium supplement to patients suffer from osteoporosis does not prevent them from breaking bones.

“Our trial indicates that routine supplementation with calcium and vitamin D3, either alone or in combination, is not effective in the prevention of further fractures in people who had a recent low-trauma fracture,” said Professor Adrian Grant, who headed the research team.

In research published online by The Lancet medical journal, Grant and his team studied 5,300 elderly people who had fractured a bone during the previous 10 years.

They were randomly divided into four groups which were given supplements of vitamin D, calcium, both, or a placebo. After following up the patients for up to 62 months, nearly 700 patients had broken a bone but there was no difference in the number of fractures in the different groups.

Read more: Supplements may not stop bone fractures