Skip Navigation


Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on September 18, 2006
Age and Ageing 2006 35(6):645; doi:10.1093/ageing/afl111
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
35/6/645    most recent
afl111v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Grant, W. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Grant, W. B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Cholecalciferol, not ergocalciferol, should be used for vitamin D supplementation

SIR—The recent study by Law et al. [1] failed to find any evidence that supplementation with an equivalent vitamin D dose of 1,100 IU per day prevented fractures or falls among elderly people in care home accommodation. This finding is in contrast to another study in which community dwelling elderly people in England were given the equivalent of 800 IU vitamin D per day [2] in which statistically significant reductions in fractures were found. The primary difference between the two studies was that Law et al. [1] used ergocalciferol (vitamin D2), whereas Trivedi et al. [2] used cholecalciferol (vitamin D3). There are several reports in the literature stating that ergocalciferol is 2–3 times less effective than cholecalciferol [3, 4] and remains active for a shorter time [4]. Thus, the report by Law et al. should be considered one in which the effective dose was <400 IU per day. This dose is too low to have a beneficial effect; at least 700–800 IU per day of vitamin D3 is required [5].

William B. Grant

2115 Van Ness Avenue, MB 101, San Francisco, CA 94109-2510, USA Tel: (+1) 415 776 5274; Fax: (+1) 415 931 6537; Email: wgrant{at}sunarc.org

References

  1. Law M, Withers H, Morris J, Anderson F. Vitamin D supplementation and the prevention of fractures and falls: results of a randomised trial in elderly people in residential accommodation. Age Ageing 2006; 35: 482–6.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Trivedi DP, Doll R, Khaw KT. Effect of four monthly oral vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) supplementation on fractures and mortality in men and women living in the community: randomised double blind controlled trial. BMJ 2003; 326: 469.
  3. Trang HM, Cole DE, Rubin LA, Pierratos A, Siu S, Vieth R. Evidence that vitamin D3 increases serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D more efficiently than does vitamin D2. Am J Clin Nutr 1998; 68: 854–8.[Abstract]
  4. Armas LA, Hollis BW, Heaney RP. Vitamin D2 is much less effective than vitamin D3 in humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2004; 89: 5387–91.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  5. Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Willett WC, Wong JB, Giovannucci E, Dietrich T, Dawson-Hughes B. Fracture prevention with vitamin D supplementation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. JAMA 2005; 293: 2257–64.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
35/6/645    most recent
afl111v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Grant, W. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Grant, W. B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?