Vitamin D Supplementation Helps Prevent Falls in Older Adults
Each year, one third of adults 65 years and older have at least one fall. And, 9% of those falls require an emergency department visit and up to 6%result in a fracture. Consequently, strategies to prevent falls have become an important public health goal for the elderly. A recent review of multiple published studies concluded that vitamin D supplementation taken in dosages of 700 to 1,000 IU per day (achieving a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of at least 24) reduces falls in older persons by 26%. And, for good news for the cost conscious, the more expensive active forms of vitamin D (which also had double the rate of a significant side effect) were no more effective than the very inexpensive and safer over-the-counter supplemental vitamin D. A vitamin D level…