Another Health Standby Takes a Hit

After all these years of taking additional calcium and vitamin D, women are being told that it isn’t helpful in reducing their risk of fractures. This comes a week or two after they got the news that low-fat diets and soy protein don’t do what they’re supposed to.

In a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine over 18,000 healthy postmenopausal women took calcium and vitamin D supplements for an average of 7 years. Although the bone density in their hips was significantly increased, there was no significant decrease in the rate of hip fractures, compared with a same-sized group who didn’t take supplements. To make matters worse, there was no reduction in the frequency of colon cancer, another anticipated benefit of such supplements.

Not surprisingly, the media have published these findings widely. Most of them haven’t, however, included the information that a subset of women who consistently took the full supplement dose ((1,000 mg calcium and 400 IU vitamin D daily) had a significant 29% reduction in hip fracture; and in women who were over 60, there was a 21% reduction. So it looks as if the advice to women was on the right track - there just weren’t enough subjects in the study to show a significant benefit across the board.