Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Treating vitamin D deficiency requires caution

Kenneth Lin, MD
Conditions
August 27, 2010
Share
Tweet
Share

Vitamin D seems to be all the rage in medicine these days. A family physician colleague commented to me recently that the laboratory test for vitamin D deficiency is becoming the most frequently ordered test in his practice.

This clinical bandwagon is likely a response to data from multiple recent studies that found low vitamin D levels in the majority of children and adults of all ages. While vitamin D has always been thought to play an important role in keeping bones strong, researchers are suggesting that low levels may increase one’s risk for a variety of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Before you go out to your local drugstore to buy mega-doses of vitamin D supplements, though, there are at least two good reasons to proceed with caution.

First, association does not always translate into causation. In other words, just because people with a low (or high) level of a nutrient are more likely to suffer from a particular illness doesn’t mean that the abnormal level caused the illness, nor does it mean that restoring a normal level will cure it. For example, studies have showed that high homocysteine levels are associated with an increased heart attack risk. When I was in residency training, cardiologists routinely prescribed folate supplements to patients who had had heart attacks in order to lower their homocysteine levels and reduce their risk of having another heart attack. However, subsequent studies determined that lowering homocysteine levels does absolutely nothing for these patients.

The second reason to be wary of the vitamin D hype is that we’ve been down this road before, with vitamins A, B, C, and E. An editorial published recently in the American Journal of Epidemiology provides a sobering summary of initial high hopes placed in each “anticancer vitamin du jour” that were subsequently dashed by randomized controlled trials. In the case of vitamin E, high doses actually appear to be harmful.

There’s a lot we don’t know about vitamin D, as an exhaustive review of the evidence for the U.S. Institute of Medicine concluded last year. Although most studies suggest that vitamin D supplements reduce the risk of fractures and falls in older adults, it’s not at all clear what the best dose should be; in a recent study, older women taking a single large dose of vitamin D each year suffered more fractures and falls than women who didn’t.

In the meantime, there are many other things that you can do to keep your bones healthy, including regular weight-bearing exercise, not smoking, and eating a balanced diet that includes two to three servings of dairy products each day.

Kenneth Lin is a family physician who blogs at Common Sense Family Doctor.

Submit a guest post and be heard.

Prev

Statins for heart disease and stroke, and debunking statin myths

August 27, 2010 Kevin 22
…
Next

Contract pregnancy ethics and moral issues

August 27, 2010 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Medications

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Statins for heart disease and stroke, and debunking statin myths
Next Post >
Contract pregnancy ethics and moral issues

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Kenneth Lin, MD

  • How to recruit more students into family medicine

    Kenneth Lin, MD
  • When should you prescribe statins for older adults?

    Kenneth Lin, MD
  • Clinical practice guidelines have problems, but they’re not broken

    Kenneth Lin, MD

More in Conditions

  • What a childhood stroke taught me about the future of neurosurgery and the promise of vagus nerve stimulation

    William J. Bannon IV
  • Facing terminal cancer as a doctor and mother

    Kelly Curtin-Hallinan, DO
  • Why doctors must stop ignoring unintentional weight loss in patients with obesity

    Samantha Malley, FNP-C
  • Why hospitals are quietly capping top doctors’ pay

    Dennis Hursh, Esq
  • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in emergency department triage

    Resa E. Lewiss, MD and Courtney M. Smalley, MD
  • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

    Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Why the heart of medicine is more than science

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • How Ukrainian doctors kept diabetes care alive during the war

      Dr. Daryna Bahriy | Physician
    • Why Grok 4 could be the next leap for HIPAA-compliant clinical AI

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How women physicians can go from burnout to thriving

      Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH | Physician
    • What a childhood stroke taught me about the future of neurosurgery and the promise of vagus nerve stimulation

      William J. Bannon IV | Conditions
    • Beyond burnout: Understanding the triangle of exhaustion [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 12 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

      Kristen Cline, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
  • Recent Posts

    • Why the heart of medicine is more than science

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician
    • How Ukrainian doctors kept diabetes care alive during the war

      Dr. Daryna Bahriy | Physician
    • Why Grok 4 could be the next leap for HIPAA-compliant clinical AI

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • How women physicians can go from burnout to thriving

      Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH | Physician
    • What a childhood stroke taught me about the future of neurosurgery and the promise of vagus nerve stimulation

      William J. Bannon IV | Conditions
    • Beyond burnout: Understanding the triangle of exhaustion [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Treating vitamin D deficiency requires caution
12 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...