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Taking high doses of vitamin D supplements may help older adults to reduce their risk of fractures, a Swiss review suggests.

"The anti-fracture benefits of vitamin D have been questioned by several recent trials, leading to uncertainty among patients and physicians regarding recommendations for vitamin D supplementation," Heike Bischoff-Ferrari of University Hospital in Zurich and colleagues wrote in the March 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine...

The original article can be found at: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/03/23/vitamin-d-fractures.html

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what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This article is a fair translation of two research articles published in one issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. What is missing, however, is a critical analysis of the evidence and balance in the interpretation. Inadequate information was presented on the risks (barely mentioned), benefits (specific benefits presented in absolute terms only) and costs (not mentioned at all) of vitamin D supplementation and so the information presented is not that useful to support individual decision-making. Given that vitamin D supplementation tends to be a decision that the individual will make without professional medical advice, this information is even more important to include.

The article may have been strengthened by providing information regarding who would most benefit from vitamin D supplementation and how one might find high quality vitamin D supplements- for example, readers might ask: how do I find out how many nanograms of vitamin D there are per milligram of my blood? What are the physical symptoms of low vitamin D levels? How would I choose between the types/brands of vitamin D? or where would I buy such a supplement?

Including the perspective of researchers or practitioners not involved in these studies might have allowed readers to gather a balanced report on vitamin D supplementation and might have encouraged a more informed medical decision making process.

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