Hip fracture reduced 38 percent with Calcium and just 400 IU of vitamin D – RCT Feb 2013

Health risks and benefits from calcium and vitamin D supplementation: Women's Health Initiative clinical trial and cohort study.

Osteoporos Int. 2013 Feb;24(2):567-80. doi: 10.1007/s00198-012-2224-2. Epub 2012 Dec 4.
Prentice RL, Pettinger MB, Jackson RD, Wactawski-Wende J, Lacroix AZ, Anderson GL, Chlebowski RT, Manson JE, Van Horn L, Vitolins MZ, Datta M, LeBlanc ES, Cauley JA, Rossouw JE.
Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA. rprentic at whi.org

SUMMARY:The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial randomly assigned 36,282 postmenopausal women in the U.S. to 1,000 mg elemental calcium carbonate plus 400 IU of vitamin D(3) daily or placebo, with average intervention period of 7.0 years. The trial was designed to test whether calcium plus vitamin D supplementation in a population in which the use of these supplements was widespread would reduce hip fracture, and secondarily, total fracture and colorectal cancer.

INTRODUCTION: This study further examines the health benefits and risks of calcium and vitamin D supplementation using WHI data, with emphasis on fractures, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and total mortality.

METHODS: WHI calcium and vitamin D randomized clinical trial (CT) data through the end of the intervention period were further analyzed with emphasis on treatment effects in relation to duration of supplementation, and these data were contrasted and combined with corresponding data from the WHI prospective observational study (OS).

RESULTS: Among women not taking personal calcium or vitamin D supplements at baseline, the hazard ratio [HR] for hip fracture occurrence in the CT following 5 or more years of calcium and vitamin D supplementation versus placebo was 0.62 (95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.38-1.00).

In combined analyses of CT and OS data, the corresponding HR was 0.65 (95 % CI, 0.44-0.98).

Supplementation effects were not apparent on the risks of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, total heart disease, stroke, overall cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, or total mortality, while evidence for a reduction in breast cancer risk and total invasive cancer risk among calcium plus vitamin D users was only suggestive.

CONCLUSION: Though based primarily on a subset analysis, long-term use of calcium and vitamin D appears to confer a reduction that may be substantial in the risk of hip fracture among postmenopausal women. Other health benefits and risks of supplementation at doses considered, including an elevation in urinary tract stone formation, appear to be modest and approximately balanced.

PMID: 23208074

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Recall that Vitamin D can provide two separate benefits:

1. Reduce falls by improving muscle reaction time
2. Improve bone strength, and thus reduce hip fracture if a person does fall

See also Vitamin D Life

• Hip bone loss stopped with 1000 IU of vitamin D, while 400 IU similar to placebo – RCT April 2013
• Overview Fractures and Falls and Vitamin D
• All items in category Falls or Fractures and Vitamin D 219 items