Mega-dose vitamin D may cause bone loss
The study raises the possibility of harm for healthy women taking supplements to prevent osteoporosis, the authors say
High-dose vitamin D supplementation in healthy postmenopausal women can result in significant loss of bone mineral density, a Canadian study suggests.
The University of Calgary-led team assigned 311 men and women aged 55-70 to daily 400, 4000 or 10,000 IU vitamin D3 supplementation to assess sex- and age-related changes in bone density and strength in the forearm and shin.
All participants were vitamin D-sufficient at study initiation and had total volumetric bone mineral density (BMD) measurements taken via high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT at regular intervals over three years.
The researchers found that women, but not men, lost significant bone at higher vitamin D doses.
