Are calcium and Vitamin D Good For Your Bone Health?
By Doug Bremner MD

Many doctors recommend supplementation with calcium and Vitamin D for the prevention of osteoporosis and bone fractures in postmenopausal women. Taking calcium increases calcium in the blood, making more available for uptake into the bone. With normal aging, there is a decrease in calcium absorption by the stomach. Vitamin D is known to increase calcium absorption in the gut, as well as acting synergistically with calcium to promote bone density. This has led to the common practice of prescribing calcium and Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of hip fractures. It sounds so good and all makes logical sense, and it can't hurt, so why not go ahead and do it?

However, just because you become deficient in something with aging, doesn't mean that supplementation will correct the problem. Studies have shown that calcium and vitamin D supplementation in people over age 65 increased total bone density, but not necessarily in areas that matter, like the femoral neck, which causes hip fracture. The only studies which showed that calcium and Vitamin D prevented hip fractures were done in French women who had osteoporosis and were living in nursing homes. However these women may have calcium and/or Vitamin D deficiency due to diet or lack of sunlight from being in a nursing home.

Other studies in individuals outside nursing homes found no beneficial effects from Vitamin D and calcium supplementation in terms of hip fracture prevention. One study of patients who had a fracture and became immobile did not find any benefit of Vitamin D and calcium in the prevention of secondary fractures. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study included 36,282 premenopausal women age 50 to 79 who were randomly assigned to receive 1000 mg of calcium with 400 IU of Vitamin D-3 or placebo with a follow-up of 7 years for assessment of bone fracture. Supplementation did not reduce the risk of hip fracture. Although there was an increase in hip bone density, there was also an increase in kidney stones. Another recent study involved randomization of women over age 55 to calcium, calcium plus vitamin D-3, and placebo. Women on calcium plus vitamin D-3 had a greater than 50% reduction in cancer.

Since increasing hipbone density has no practical benefit and is not related to reducing the risk of hip fracture, while increasing kidney stones is definitely negative, I don't think you should take calcium. Taking Vitamin D also does not seem to have benefits for bone health. As for cancer prevention, the single randomized trial performed to date seems promising, although I think that needs to be replicated.

Recently we have gone overboard in the commandment to slather on sun screen and block out all sunlight. The fact is that you need 10 minutes in the sun each day for your skin to naturally generate the vitamin D that you need. The CDC says that between 1/4 and 3/4 of Americans are Vitamin D deficient. That is largely because of the sun screen mania. Skin cancers are largely related to getting sun burns, so always make sure to lather up with sun screen if you are going to be spending extended periods of time in intense sun.

Bottom line? Take a walk in the sun, and eat a balanced diet with lots of greens and vegetables to get your calcium and Vitamin D fix, unless you have a history of skin cancer. Then you can take Vitamin D supplement and stay out of the sun.

Learn more about alternatives to medications and hidden risks of prescription medications in Before You Take That Pill: Why the Drug Industry May be Bad for Your Health: Risks and Side Effects You Won't Find on the Label of Commonly Prescribed Drugs, Vitamins and Supplements, by researcher and physician J. Douglas Bremner, MD.

http://www.beforeyoutakethatpill.com