Sufficient Amounts of Vitamin D May Decrease the Incidence of Falls

A few months ago we wrote about an unusual amount of hype for Vitamin D supplements that was claiming all kinds of unproven benefits for them. The non-profit that appears to be behind a lot of the hype is funded by the food supplement industry. Although vitamin D deficiency has proven links to rickets and bone softening, none of the other claims had any scientific basis. Then, just yesterday, a team from Zurich, Switzerland and Boston, MA published the results of a study of potential links between Vitamin D and fall prevention in people aged 65 and over.

Rather than conduct new research, they established strict criteria for experiments looking for links and analyzed the findings. They then published their report¹ in the British Medical Journal. They combed four major medical research and clinical trial databases, consulted clinical experts and combed bibliographies and abstracts, contacting authors for additional information, if needed. They weeded the information down to a subset that described double blind, randomized, controlled trials of older individuals (mean age 65 years or older) receiving a defined oral dose of supplemental vitamin D2 or D3, or an active form of one of two types of vitamin D3 and with sufficiently specified fall assessment. In plain English, it would be hard to influence the results of the trials and they would be repeatable. They ended up with eight trials that met their criteria. Their findings are very interesting:

• The results were mixed for people receiving lower doses of vitamin D.
• Falls were not notably reduced by low dose supplemental vitamin D.
• High dose supplemental vitamin D reduced fall risk by 19% to 23%.
• Active forms of vitamin D reduced fall risk by 22%.

The researchers concluded that – “Supplemental vitamin D in a dose of 700-1000 IU a day reduced the risk of falling among older individuals by 19% and to a similar degree as active forms of vitamin D. Doses of supplemental vitamin D of less than 700 IU …. may not reduce the risk of falling among older individuals.” They do not try to offer a reason for the link, but they, or other researchers, will probably follow up on that.

This is good news for the Vitamin D supplement manufacturers, who now have something concrete to boast about, as long as the dosage is high enough (at least 700 IU per day). It’s also great news for people who are getting enough natural vitamin D, either from common foods (listed in our previous article) or from ten to fifteen minutes exposure to low or medium strength sunlight per day. As always, please check with your regular physician before taking any kind of supplement or significantly changing your diet.

 ¹ “Fall prevention with supplemental and active forms of vitamin D: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials” – Published 1 October 2009 in the British Medical Journal – Citation BMJ 2009;339:b3692.