Older people who take vitamin D with calcium may have lower death rates than those who don’t.
That finding comes from a new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. It comes just days after an expert government panel reported that there is insufficient evidence to recommend calcium and vitamin D supplementation for older women.
The researchers analyzed findings from eight large vitamin D trials involving more than 70,000 older people.
People were followed for three years, on average. During that time, those who took vitamin D and calcium were less likely to die than people who did not.
The reason for the lower death rate isn’t clear. But it didn’t appear to be about a reduction in fractures, which is one main indication for taking calcium and vitamin D.
Vitamin D has been linked to a lower risk for colorectal cancers and several other cancers in some studies, but the research is far from conclusive.
“It seems that calcium with vitamin D has benefits for general health, but we need more studies to understand this association,” researcher Lars Rejnmark, PhD, of Denmark’s Aarhus University Hospital tells WebMD.
Read the rest of this story on WebMD.
