An international review in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology found that older people who take vitamin D and calcium supplements may live longer than their peers. Researchers studied eight different clinical trials involving more than 70,000 older adults, mostly women, and found that people given the supplements were 9 percent less likely to die over three years than those given the placebo.
That may not seem like much, but researchers say the effect is “at least as pronounced” as benefits linked to drugs that lower cholesterol and blood pressure.
“In my view, a 9 percent reduced mortality in the general population of elderly is of major importance,” Rejnmark, an associate professor at Aarhus University in Denmark, told Reuters Health. “Except for stopping smoking, there are not many other known interventions that are capable (of) such a reduction in the risk of death.”
In each trial, people were randomly assigned to take vitamin D or a placebo, with some studies using a combination of vitamin D and calcium. Vitamin D alone had no impact on death rates.
According to Reuters:
The doses varied, but most trials used a daily vitamin D dose of 10 to 20 micrograms. In the United States, health officials suggest that most adults get 15 micrograms (or 600 IU) of vitamin D per day, while people older than 70 should aim to get 20 micrograms (or 800 IU).
In trials that used calcium, the dose was 1,000 milligrams per day. In general, women older than 50, and everyone over 70, are told to get 1,200 milligrams of calcium each day.
More research is needed, but for now, talk to your doctor about taking vitamin D and calcium supplements – it just might make you live longer!
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