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Vitamin D supplements do not increase bone density in healthy children
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A review of literature found that vitamin D supplements do not increase bone density in children whose vitamin D levels are already normal.
Tania Winzenberg, PhD, of the Menzies Research Institute in Australia, and colleagues searched several medical databases, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and identified six randomized controlled trials in which 541 children aged 1 month to 19 years received vitamin D and 343 received a placebo for at least 3 months. All patients had undergone bone density scans and serum vitamin D testing at baseline and throughout the trials.
The researchers found that vitamin D failed to have a statistically significant effect on total body bone mineral content, forearm bone mineral density (BMD) or hip BMD. They observed a slight trend suggesting an effect on lumbar spine BMD.
There was no significant difference in the effect of supplements in children with high and low levels of baseline serum vitamin D. The researchers observed a trend toward a larger effect on total body bone mineral content in children with low vitamin D levels at baseline. In the studies of children with low serum vitamin D, the effects of supplementation on total body bone mineral content and lumbar spine BMD were significant at 2.6% and 1.7% more than placebo.
“While it is difficult to extrapolate bone density outcomes to fracture risk reduction, particularly bone density in childhood to fractures in adulthood, the review suggests that it is possible that vitamin D supplementation can deliver clinically significant improvements in bone health in children with low baseline serum vitamin D,” the researchers concluded
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