A recently released study by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) is casting doubt on the longstanding belief that calcium and vitamin D intake can help prevent bone fractures and falls.
The review and meta-analysis spanned from 2014 to February 2025, analyzing data from 69 trials across a combined 153,902 participants, 87 per cent of whom were living in communities and 73 per cent of whom were not considered to be at high risk of fractures or falls.
“Based on absolute risk reductions and thresholds considered clinically meaningful, this review found little to no benefits from use of calcium, vitamin D, or combined supplementation on the prevention of fractures and falls,” the research concluded.
“Apart from exercise and drug treatments for osteoporosis, few interventions with moderate or high certainty evidence have been consistently shown to reduce the risk of fractures,” the researchers wrote.
Olivier Massé, a pharmacist with CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’île-de-Montréal and one of the authors of the study, said that these results were expected.
“Our findings actually align with a growing body of evidence over the last decade that has cast doubt on the usefulness of routine supplementation in adults,” he said in an emailed statement to Global News.
“There are still many valid indications for taking calcium and vitamin D, such as taking osteoporosis medication, long-term corticosteroids, certain bone or endocrine diseases, following bariatric surgery, and so on.”
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Massé also stressed that the results of the study are not to encourage people not to take their calcium and vitamin D supplements, “but rather that individuals taking them should consult their health-care professional to see if continuing them is still necessary.”
David Goltzman, a professor of medicine and physiology at McGill University, said that the bottom line of the study’s findings is that “if you’re already vitamin D sufficient, you don’t need more vitamin D and calcium.”
“If we don’t have a sufficient amount of vitamin D, we won’t absorb calcium, and so you won’t have it for your bones. But if you’re already vitamin D sufficient, you don’t need more vitamin D and you probably don’t need more calcium,” he said.
However, Goltzman said the majority of the population doesn’t know if they are vitamin D sufficient due to these levels not being checked on a routine basis.
Goltzman also said that the weather and seasonal changes can also play a role in people being vitamin D sufficient.
“During the winter months, there is less exposure to sun, and the vitamin D levels may go down and then they go up again in the summer months, where there’s more sun,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean everybody in Canada is vitamin D deficient in the winter, just means the levels will fluctuate and some will, in fact, go down.”
Both Massé and the study highlight that “future trials may evaluate interventions other than calcium, vitamin D, or combined supplementation to prevent fractures and falls.”
“Potential areas of investigation include dietary strategies, drug review, educational or behavioural approaches, multi-component interventions, and digital tools for fall prevention.”
Massé also stated that “many promising interventions are still understudied.”
Goltzman recommends maintaining regular exercise and ensuring that foods being consumed are rich in vitamin D and calcium to increase those levels.
“Once they have a diagnosis or they’ve had a fracture, then, you know, everything changes.”
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