Vitamin D does not help bone density in black women

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

According to a clinical trial, vitamin D supplements do not prevent bone loss among black women.
Vitamin D is important in helping keep up calcium levels which, in turn, could prevent against bone loss and osteoporosis. However, the role of vitamin D supplements in guarding against osteoporosis is unclear.

Researchers at Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, New York, have carried out a trial comparing bone loss in postmenopausal black women who did and did not take vitamin D supplements. The trial went on for three years and the women all took calcium supplements. There was no significant difference in bone mineral density between the two groups. Both groups had a slight increase in total body bone mineral density and bone density at the hip and forearm at one year but declines from then on. Therefore, in black women at least, vitamin D seems not to be effective in protecting bone health. Since this group tends to have naturally lower levels of vitamin D, more research is needed into finding the best way of improving their vitamin D status.

Source
Archives of Internal Medicine 25th July 2005 Volume 165 pages 1618-1623

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