Research
Mixed
For individuals consuming a balanced diet, calcium and vitamin D supplementation provides little to no beneficial or detrimental effect on fracture prevention.
If you eat a balanced diet and are not on osteoporosis medication, you likely do not need calcium or vitamin D supplements for fracture prevention. Focus on getting these nutrients from food. If you are on medication or have a deficiency, your doctor may recommend specific doses.
GoodRefutesMEDIUM confidence
For people who are consuming a balanced diet... and not receiving pharmacotherapy for osteoporosis, supplementation with calcium, vitamin D and protein is likely to have little to no beneficial or detrimental effect on fractures.
Why this rating
Based on systematic reviews showing small, unimportant benefits.
Source
Clinical practice guideline for management of osteoporosis and fracture prevention in Canada: 2023 update
Suzanne N. Morin et al. · Canadian Medical Association Journal · 2023
DOI 10.1503/cmaj.221647
clinical_guidelineCited 180×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Functional and balance training performed at least twice weekly significantly reduces the rate of falls in adults over 50, with high-certainty evidence supporting this intervention for fracture prevention.Strong
- Pharmacotherapy is recommended for postmenopausal females and males aged 50+ who have had a previous hip or vertebral fracture, or have a 10-year major osteoporotic fracture risk of 20% or more.Strong
Related findings · Mixed
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