Vitamin D - how much do you need to get your bone stronger?

We've all heard this before - Vitamin D is good for your bone.

But just how much Vitamin D do you need?




Let's look at a study by Bischoff-Ferrari and coauthors, published in New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM 2012; 367:77-78. July 5 2012):

• Data from 11 Double blind, randomized controlled trial
• Comparing between "oral Vitamin D supplementation alone or combined with calcium" with "placebo alone or calcium alone"
• Study population: 65 years or older
• 31022 participants
• Mean age: 76 yo
• 91% female

RESULTS:

What they found was that "In adults 65 years or older, vitamin D supplementation vs placebo or calcium alone is linked with a non-significant reduction in hip fracture risk."
- So there is a trend of benefit, but not more than would be expected from potential variation in statistics.

However, they also found that "vitamin D intake (median, 800IU/day) is linked with a 30% reduction in hip fracture risk (Hazard Ratio 0.70)".


Therefore, if you are a female aged more than 65 years old, then taking 800 IU/day of Vitamin D would reduce your risk of hip fracture by 30%.