Study Shows that Vitamin D Helps Prevent Falls and Improve Balance

By Dr. John Cannell, Vitamin D Council

Much controversy exists around the contention that vitamin D helps prevent falls.

The United States Preventative Task Service Forces says it does and that all elderly women should take vitamin D.

Now, a group of scientists from Brazil aimed to determine if vitamin D prevented falls in older women and if it improved balance.

The researchers studied 160 women aged 45 to 65 who were frequent fallers in an intention to treat analysis. The average baseline vitamin D status of both groups was in the mid-teens. The researchers gave 8- women 1,000 IU/day of vitamin D and the other 80 received a placebo pill. After nine months, the vitamin D group’s levels increased to 28 ng/ml and the placebo group fell to 14 ng/ml.

After the duration of the study, there were 37 falls in the placebo group but only 18 falls in the treatment group. So, the occurrence of falls was 46.3 percent higher in the placebo group. The placebo group was 1.95 times more likely to fall and 2.80 times more likely to experience recurrent falls compared to the vitamin D group. There were also reductions in body sway with lower amplitude of anterior-posterior and lateral-lateral oscillation, in the vitamin D group.

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