Email a Friend
Print ArticleOsteoporosis Health Center
This article is from the WebMD News Archive
Bone Health: Do Vitamin D Pills Help Blacks?
July 25, 2005 -- New research shows no bone benefits for healthy postmenopausal black women who took vitamin D supplements for three years.
The researchers don't dismiss the vitamin pills. They don't know if the results would be similar for women of other ethnic groups, elderly women, or those more severely lacking vitamin D.
The researchers included John Aloia, MD, of the Bone Mineral Research Center at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. The study appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Bone Background
Strong bones are important throughout life. Bone density peaks at about age 30. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the critical years for building bone mass are from prior to adolescence to about age 30.
Bones naturally thin as we age. The worst cases result in osteoporosis -- thin, brittle bones that are more likely to break. Both men and women can develop osteoporosis or osteopenia, a milder condition that can lead to osteoporosis. Certain people are more likely to develop osteoporosis, and vitamin D deficiency makes it more likely.
Getting Vitamin D
Vitamin D is involved in bone health, along with calcium and other minerals. The body can make vitamin D when exposed to sunshine. It can also get vitamin D from supplements or certain foods, such as low-fat dairy products.
In old age, black women tend to get fewer bone fractures than whites.
It's harder for blacks to make vitamin D. Their skin color provides some natural sun protection, filtering out some sunshine needed to produce vitamin D.
Keeping Bones Strong
Factors that raise the odds of osteoporosis include:
- A family history of osteoporosis
- Personal history of fracture after age 50
- Current Smoking
- Excessive alcohol use
- Getting little or no weight-bearing exercise
- Being small-framed or thin
- A diet low in bone-friendly foods -- low lifetime calcium intake
- Certain medications -- such as steroids and seizure medications
Steps to keep bones strong include:
- Quit smoking
- Eat a healthy diet; consume adequate calcium
- Get regular, weight-bearing exercise (such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, weight lifting, or dancing)
- Avoid heavy drinking
Some patients may also benefit from medications to prevent or treat osteoporosis. A bone density scan can check bone health.
Vitamin Study
Aloia's study included 208 healthy postmenopausal black women aged 50-75 who had gone through menopause.
The women were moderately active. None were taking hormone therapy. Only 7% were smokers. Their average BMI (body mass index) was borderline obese.
The women were randomly given pills containing 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D or placebos with no vitamin D. No one knew which pill they were taking.
Everyone also got calcium supplements to make sure they consumed 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium per day.
The researchers increased vitamin D supplements to 2,000 IU in the study's last year.
Checking Bone Density
The women got bone scans every six months throughout the study. At the study's start, most women (65%) had normal bone density. About 34% had lower-than-normal bone density measures (osteopenia). Only 1.4% had osteoporosis.
No bone benefits were seen in the women taking vitamin D, write the researchers. They note that nearly nine out of 10 women in the vitamin D group took the pills as directed.
It's the first study of vitamin D in postmenopausal black women, write Aloia and colleagues. The findings "lend support to re-examination of optimal vitamin D nutrition for skeletal health in postmenopausal women of other ethnic groups," they write.
del.icio.us
VIVELLE-DOT (estradiol transdermal system) IS AVAILABLE BY PRESCRPTION ONLY.
INDICATION
Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).
Do not use estrogens with or without progestins to prevent heart disease, heart attacks, or strokes. Using estrogens with or without progestins may increase your chances of getting heart attacks, strokes, breast cancer, and blood clots. Using estrogens with progestins may increase your risk of dementia (decline in memory and thinking skills).
Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.
The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.
You and your healthcare professional should talk regularly about whether you still need treatment with Vivelle-Dot.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.
Taking Vitamin D and Calcium Together
Osteoporosis specialist Dr. Ethel Siris on why it's so important to take calcium with Vitamin D.
