Older people can prevent fractures by taking vitamin D supplements, a new study confirms, as long as they use a high enough dose-and keep taking it.
“Everyone age 65 and older should take vitamin D in a dose close to 800 IU per day, best as vitamin D3, and with good adherence,” Dr. Heike A. Bischoff-Ferrari of the University of Zurich, one of the researchers on the study, told Reuters Health. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea for younger adults to follow this recommendation too, she added. “I think if you are young and want to do something early for your bone health that’s something to think about.”
Recent studies had called into question the benefit of vitamin D for bone health, Bischoff-Ferrari and her team note in the Archives of Internal Medicine, but some of these investigations had not accounted for adherence to supplement use. In one of the studies, the researcher pointed out in an interview, less than half of the people randomized to take vitamin D were actually doing so 2 years later.
