Research

Hormonal

Vitamin D deficiency is a major risk factor for osteoporosis and osteomalacia, but the efficacy of Vitamin D supplementation alone in preventing fractures is controversial and may be insufficient without adequate Calcium intake.

For bone health, Vitamin D and Calcium work together. If you are at risk for osteoporosis, ensure your Vitamin D levels are optimized (via testing and supplementation if needed) before relying solely on Calcium supplements. High-dose Vitamin D (>792 IU/day) may help reduce hip fracture risk, but Calcium alone may not be effective and could have adverse effects in postmenopausal women.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Osteoporosis, a skeletal disease, is characterized by a decrease in bone mass and pathological changes of the microarchitecture due to a low serum level of 25(OH)D... However, there is no significant decrease of the hip fracture risk among women and men caused by calcium intake as shown in the meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. A meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials adversely showed a significant effect among postmenopausal women with a significantly increased hip fracture risk
Elke Wintermeyer et al. · Nutrients · 2016

Why this rating

Review of multiple studies with conflicting meta-analyses regarding fracture prevention.

Source

Crucial Role of Vitamin D in the Musculoskeletal System

Elke Wintermeyer et al. · Nutrients · 2016

DOI 10.3390/nu8060319

narrative_reviewCited 214×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →