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Thursday, 28 April 2005 11:33 | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk
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Taking calcium and vitamin D supplements may not help prevent fractures in elderly people, a study suggests.
Research was conducted into the effects of calcium and vitamin D in strengthening bones and preventing breakages in falls.
Scientists from Aberdeen and York examined 5292 people over 70 years of age with osteoporosis who had already had a fracture.
Supplements of calcium and vitamin D are commonly taken to protect bones but the results of the study showed that they in fact may not prevent fractures.
The subjects of the research were divided into four groups. One was given calcium supplements, the second vitamin D, the third a mixture of the two, and the fourth a placebo.
The groups were then monitored for between two and five years during which 698 experienced a fracture.
However, the incidence of fracture did not vary significantly between the groups, suggesting that supplements do not notably protect or strengthen people’s bones.
Professor Adrian Grant, who led the study, said the research provided no evidence that calcium and vitamin D played a role in the treatment of osteoporosis and the prevention of broken bones.
However, experts have warned that the patients in the study were younger than those in research which had previously shown calcium and vitamin D to be beneficial, and this may have affected the results.
The results are published in the medical journal The Lancet medical.
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