USPSTF Releases Recommendations On Calcium, Vitamin D

ROCKVILLE, Md.The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released its final recommendations on calcium and vitamin D in preventing fractures on Feb. 26, which determined current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of combined vitamin D₃ and calcium supplementation for the primary prevention of fractures in premenopausal women and men.

According to the recommendations published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, USPSTF also advised against daily supplementation of less than 400 IU of vitamin D₃ and less than 1,000 mg of calcium for preventing fractures in postmenopausal women. The Task Force found current evidence is insufficient to make a recommendation on daily supplements greater than 400 IU of vitamin D₃ and greater than 1,000 mg of calcium for the prevention of fractures in postmenopausal women.

Vitamin D and calcium are known to play an important role in maintaining health, including bone health. However, despite the large number of studies done there are few conclusive answers about the ability of vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent fractures," said Task Force Member and Chair Virginia Moyer, M.D., M.P.H. The Task Force has determined the evidence is inconclusive that higher doses of vitamin D and calcium supplements are effective in preventing fractures in postmenopausal women. The evidence was also inconclusive for fracture prevention in men and premenopausal women. What we do know is that doses less than or equal to 400 IU of vitamin D (or 1,000 mg of calcium) are not effective at preventing fractures in postmenopausal women."

Dietary supplement industry organizations, including the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the Natural Products Association (NPA) said these guidelines only highlight a limited amount of literature on calcium and vitamin Dleading to a questionable conclusion that may mislead consumers.

These recommendations fail to recognize the well-established role of calcium and vitamin D in maintaining bone health," said Taylor Wallace, Ph.D., senior director, scientific and regulatory affairs, CRN. "If these recommendations are taken to heart, or misconstrued as general recommendations against calcium and vitamin D, consumers could be compromising their bone health and missing out on important other benefits from these nutrients. The bottom line: calcium and vitamin D are vital to staying healthy."

The draft research plan for the recommendations were posted online for public comment on Feb. 26 and are available by clicking here.

Many studies have established that almost 50% of Americans and Europeans are deficient in vitamin D. Recent reports suggest that 50,000 to 70,000 U.S. citizens and 30,000 to 35,000 U.K. residents die prematurely from cancer annually due to insufficient vitamin D.

Currently, vitamin D daily requirements for adults is 400 to 600 IU per day. These values have been determined based upon the prevention of rickets and effects on calcium and bone metabolism. There now is a large and growing body of scientific opinion that the current Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D needs to be significantly elevated to 1,000 to 2,000 IU per day to gain maximal benefit from the myriad new biological activities recently attributed to vitamin D.

In 2009, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) issued an updated position statement regarding vitamin D that recommended that an adequate amount of vitamin D should be obtained from a healthy diet that includes foods naturally rich in vitamin D, foods/beverages fortified with vitamin D, and/or vitamin D supplements.

For more information about vitamin D and its crucial role in nutrition, check out the Slide Show: Vitamin DIlluminating the Sunshine Vitamin on Food Product Design.