Vitamin D status and its predictors in New Zealand aged-care residents eligible for a government-funded universal vitamin D supplementation programme.
Public Health Nutr. 2016 Jul 25:1-12. [Epub ahead of print]
MacDonell SO1, Miller JC1, Harper MJ1, Waters DL2, Houghton LA1.
1 Department of Human Nutrition,University of Otago,PO Box 56,Dunedin 9054,New Zealand.
2 Department of Medicine/School of Physiotherapy,Dunedin School of Medicine,University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
50,000 IU monthly is nice
50,000 IU twice a month has been proven to be much better
They (incorrectly) are afraid of having vitamin D levels higher than 40 nanograms
See also VitaminDWiki
- Falls cut in half by 100,000 IU vitamin D monthly - RCT 2016
- 2X fewer Senior falls in group getting 100,000 IU vitamin D monthly via Meals-on-Wheels – RCT Aug 2015
- Overview Fractures and Falls and Vitamin D
- Seniors need at least 4,000 IU vitamin D, no test needed – Consensus Jan 2014 = 120,000 IU/month
- Vitamin D prevents falls – majority of meta-analyses conclude – meta-meta analysis Feb 2015
- Vitamin D and fractures – 24 meta-analyses and counting – Dec 2014
OBJECTIVE:
The provision of prescribed vitamin D to all aged-care residents has been implemented in New Zealand as part of a government-led falls prevention programme. To our knowledge, there has been no evaluation of this universal programme on vitamin D status and functional and health outcomes. Thus, we aimed to determine 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and their predictors in aged-care residents across the country and to investigate whether the government-funded programme was associated with adequate vitamin D status.
DESIGN:
Cross-sectional survey of sociodemographic, biochemical, anthropometric, dietary and health characteristics. Blood samples were analysed for serum 25(OH)D and other biochemical measures. Multiple regression was used to examine predictors of vitamin D status.
SETTING:
Sixteen residential aged-care facilities throughout New Zealand.
SUBJECTS:
Residents aged =60 years with residency duration >12 weeks (n 309).
RESULTS:
Mean serum 25(OH)D was 89·9 (95 % CI 85·2, 94·5) nmol/l and monthly supplements (1250 µg (50 000 IU)) were taken by 75 % of all residents.
Of those not taking a funded supplement, 65·3 % had serum 25(OH)D 125 nmol/l.
CONCLUSIONS:
Residents taking supplemental vitamin D had adequate vitamin D status; however monitoring of long-term supplementation should be considered, due to the high proportion of participants with high serum 25(OH)D levels.
PMID: 27453540