Lee Swanson Research Update

Vitamin D Supplies Play Role in Preventing Osteoporosis Hip Fractures

November 2003

Vitamin D levels in the body appear to play a large role in a person’s susceptibility to hip fractures caused by osteoporosis, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Harvard Medical School.

Osteoporotic hip fractures are a serious problem especially among postmenopausal women. High daily intake of milk or calcium from food and supplements will go a long way toward avoiding such fractures. Several trials of calcium supplementation have shown that a high calcium intake increases bone density, but longer term studies have not found that this translates into a reduced risk of hip fractures. It is also clear that any possible benefits of calcium supplementation are reversed fairly quickly if supplementation is discontinued.

Researchers completed a study to determine the relative benefits of milk consumption and calcium and vitamin D supplementation. The study involved 72,337 postmenopausal nurses who were enrolled in 1980 and followed for 18 years. During this time 603 of the nurses experienced a hip fracture. The study participants had completed food frequency questionnaires and supplied data regarding their supplement intake every two years since enrollment.

At the study’s conclusion, researchers found no statistically significant protective effect of a high daily intake of calcium from food or supplements. They did, however, observe that women who consumed more than 500 IU per day of vitamin D from food or supplements had a 37% lower risk of hip fracture than did women whose daily vitamin D intake was less than 140 IU.

At the conclusion of the study researchers said, "an adequate vitamin D intake is associated with a lower risk of osteoporotic hip fractures in postmenopausal women. Neither milk nor a high-calcium diet appears to reduce risk. Because women commonly consume less than the recommended intake of vitamin D, supplement use or dark fish consumption may be prudent."

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 77(2):504-511, 2003

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