Does Vitamin D supplementation plat a role in serious conditions? Can “vitamin” really help so many disease such as cancer and MS? Do people benefit from large doses of D? Have their been any side effects of supplementation?
The media bombarded the public with reports claiming that vitamin D could be of help to so many diseases. It seems that everyone is taking it. Rigorous studies are needed to confirm whether vitamin D is the wonder drug. And more recently, several studies have some convinced that D is over hyped
Some of the confusion on the effectiveness of vitamin D is from major study published recently in the journal the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. Researchers reviewed more than three dozen randomized controlled trials that studied the health impacts of vitamin D supplementation. They found that vitamin D supplementation with or without calcium doesn’t seem to play a significant role in serious conditions.
Last year the Lancet published an analysis of vitamin D studies conducted by Bolland and colleagues. doesn’t They determined that D does not decrease the risk of osteoporosis. French researchers in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology reviewed several high-quality trials and found vitamin D doesn’t appear to lower disease rates.
Many of the studies that found vitamin D to be beneficial to health were observational. That means researchers followed a group of people and observed what happens to them. The problem is that it’s very difficult to draw accurate conclusions from these studies. It’s just as likely that people who take vitamin D supplements are more likely to diet and exercise not because of D.
Randomized controlled trials, on the other hand, typically involve finding two similar groups of people, giving one a treatment and the other a placebo and watching the outcome.
Obviously, more research is needed.