Supplements may not stop bone fractures

Giving vitamin D and calcium supplements to elderly patients who suffer from osteoporosis does not prevent them breaking bones, researchers said on Thursday.

People with osteoporosis, or brittle bone disease, have an increased risk of fractures, particularly if they have already broken a bone.

Doctors often recommend supplements of vitamin D and calcium but scientists at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland say they don’t work.

“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.

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“We need to consider other strategies for secondary fracture prevention,” said Grant.

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Drugs known as bisphosphonates, which maintain bone density, could be a better alternative, Grant added.

Osteoporosis causes the bones to become thinner and more likely to break. Although it affects both sexes, women are four times more likely than men to suffer from the illness.

There is no cure for osteoporosis but medicines can slow and sometimes prevent bone mineral loss.