Study shows vitamin D supplements do not protect children from bone fractures

California: Harvard T.H. Vitamin D supplements do not strengthen bones or protect children with vitamin D deficiency from fractures, according to a large clinical trial conducted by the US. Chan School of Public Health and Queen Mary University of London.
The results contradict commonly accepted beliefs about how vitamin D affects bone health.

Before turning 18, more than one-third of children will suffer at least one fracture. It is a major global health problem, as fractures in childhood can lead to lifelong disability and/or poor quality of life. Because vitamin D helps promote bone mineralization, there is growing interest in the possibility that taking vitamin supplements might strengthen bones.

However, no clinical studies have ever been done before to see whether vitamin D supplementation can protect children from bone fractures.
To find out whether vitamin D supplementation would reduce the risk of bone fractures or increase bone strength in schoolchildren, researchers at Queen Mary and Harvard collaborated with partners in Mongolia, an area with a particularly high fracture burden and The country has a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. , Published today, December 1, in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the study represents the largest randomized controlled trial to date on vitamin D supplementation in children.

Over the course of three years, 8,851 schoolchildren aged 6–13 living in Mongolia received weekly oral doses of vitamin D supplementation. 95.5 percent of participants were vitamin D deficient at baseline, and the study supplements were highly effective in raising vitamin D levels to the normal range.

However, they had no effect on fracture risk or bone strength, measured in a subgroup of 1,438 participants using quantitative ultrasound.

The trial’s findings may prompt scientists, doctors and public health experts to rethink the effects of vitamin D supplements on bone health.

Dr. Ganama Davasambu, Harvard T.H. Associate Professor in. Chan School of Public Health said, “The absence of any effect of sustained, moderate vitamin D supplementation on fracture risk or bone strength in children with vitamin D deficiency is striking. “In adults, vitamin D supplementation works best for fracture prevention when given with calcium.” At the same time – so the fact that we did not offer calcium with vitamin D to the trial participants may explain the null findings from this study.

Professor Adrian Martineau, head of the Center for Immunobiology at Queen Mary University of London, said: “It is also important to note that children who were found to have rickets during screening for the trial were excluded from participation, as this would not have been the case. It is ethical to give them a placebo (dummy medicine). Thus, our findings are only relevant to children with low vitamin D status who have not developed bone complications. The importance of adequate vitamin D intake for the prevention of rickets should not be overlooked, and UK Government guidance recommending a daily intake of 400 IU vitamin D remains important and should still be followed.”