Calcium and Elderly People

Two studies from the UK suggest that supplementation with calcium and vitamin D is not effective for preventing fractures in older people.

These studies were published in the British Medical Journal and The Lancet. Both studies involved thousands of elderly people over the age of 70 who were at high risk for bone fractures.

In each study, the treatment group was given calcium and vitamin D, along with advice on reducing their risks of falling. The control groups were only given the advice to reduce their risks of falling. The results showed that overall, the incidence rate of fractures was less than what was expected for all participants, but there really was no difference in the rates of fractures between the control and the treatment groups.

Does this mean that calcium and vitamin D don't work? Not really.

The compliance by subjects declined to 63% and even lower after two years. This means several people didn't take the supplements properly. Another interesting point is that all the participants were given advice on how to limit their risk of falling. This advice was apparently successful, since the fracture rates were lower than expected for all the participants of the studies. These confounding factors may have skewed the results a bit.

Despite the flaws, these studies show that calcium and vitamin D alone may not be sufficient to reduce the risk of fractures in high-risk elderly people.