(2022-07-29) Study Finds Another Condition That Vitamin D Pills Do Not Help

Study Finds Another Condition That Vitamin D Pills Do Not Help. The vitamin pills do not prevent bone fractures in most people or protect against many other diseases, adding to questions about medical guidance many now take for granted.

in the first large randomized controlled study in the United States, funded by the federal government, researchers report that vitamin D pills taken with or without calcium have no effect on bone fracture rates. The results, published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, hold for people with osteoporosis and even those whose blood tests deemed them vitamin D deficient

people should stop taking vitamin D supplements in order to prevent major diseases or extend life,” wrote Dr. Steven R. Cummings

There are exceptions, they say: People with conditions like celiac or Crohn’s disease need vitamin D supplements, as do those who live in conditions where they are deprived of sunshine and may not get any of the mineral from foods that are routinely supplemented with vitamin D, such as cereals and dairy products. Getting into such a severe vitamin D-deprived state is “very hard to do in the general population,” Dr. Cummings said.

the National Institutes of Health funded the VITAL trial to get some solid answers about vitamin D’s relationship to health.

The first part of VITAL, previously published, found that vitamin D did not prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease in trial participants. Nor did it prevent falls, improve cognitive functioning, reduce atrial fibrillation, change body composition, reduce migraine frequency, improve stroke outcomes, protect against macular degeneration or reduce knee pain.