Calcium and Vitamin D May Not Protect Bones After All…

Calcium and Vitamin D May Not Protect Bones After All Published by TALMedora Editorial | Orthopaedics | Geriatrics | Preventive Medicine For decades it has been one of medicine's most confident recommendations. Take your calcium. Take your vitamin D. Protect your bones. Millions of older adults worldwide follow this advice faithfully. Pharmacies stock entire shelves dedicated to it. Guidelines endorse it. Prescriptions for these supplements have risen steadily for years. A major new review published in The BMJ, the largest of its kind, has placed that confidence under serious scrutiny. Researchers in Canada analysed 69 randomised controlled trials involving 153,902 adults, examining whether calcium supplements, vitamin D supplements or a combination of both reduced the risk of fractures and falls in older adults. The conclusion was unambiguous: Little to no clinically meaningful benefit for fracture prevention from calcium supplementation — moderate certainty evidence from 11 trials and 9,067 participants. Little to no benefit from vitamin D supplementation — high certainty evidence from 36 trials and 92,045 participants. Little to no benefit from combined calcium and vitamin D supplementation — high certainty evidence from 15 trials and 51,126 participants. The findings held even after accounting for age, sex, previous fractures, previous falls and baseline dietary calcium intake. Hip fracture prevention, one of the most critical outcomes in elderly care, showed no meaningf