Extra vitamin D reduces falls by elderly

NEW YORK, Mar 1 (Reuters) Getting plenty of vitamin D can help prevent falls among people living in nursing homes, a new study confirms.

Among 124 nursing home residents, those who were taking 800 units of vitamin D daily were 72 per cent less likely to fall over a five-month period than those on an inactive 'placebo' supplement, Kerry E Broe and colleagues report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

On the other hand, the men and women on lower vitamin D doses had the same risk of falling as those on placebo. ''It's not just vitamin D, but it's adequate D,'' Broe told Reuters Health.

Vitamin D deficiency is common among nursing home residents, and several studies have found supplementation with the vitamin -- which can strengthen muscle as well as promote bone strength by helping the body use calcium -- can reduce falling risk. However, other studies have found no link between taking vitamin D and the risk of falls or fractures.

Moreover, the appropriate level of supplementation, as well as the optimum blood level of vitamin D, remains a matter of debate.

To investigate, Broe, at the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, and her team re-analyzed the results of a previous study in which nursing home residents were given several different doses of vitamin D or placebo to check the effect on their blood levels of the vitamin.

The rate of falling during the five-month long study was the same, statistically, among those on placebo and those on 200, 400 or 600 IU of vitamin D daily, ranging from 44 to 60 per cent, the researchers found. However, among participants taking 800 IU a day, the incidence of falls was lower at 20 per cent.

Many of the patients were also taking a multi-vitamin, Broe pointed out, so those in the highest intake group were actually getting 800 to 1,200 IU of vitamin D daily. Among those taking just 400 IU of vitamin D, the researchers found, half were deficient in the nutrient.

''There are many reasons why people fall,'' Broe noted.

''Adequate vitamin D intake is one of many things that may prevent falling.'' REUTERS BDP RK0845