Older people are advised to take supplemental vitamin D to prevent hip and other bone fractures. But what is interesting is that U.S. preventive services task force study concluded that 800 IU a day of vitamin D helps prevent falls in people aged 65 and older and that’s what is preventing fractures.
So connection between vitamin D and fractures is – you take vitamin D to prevent falls and that prevents fractures.
This kind of statement makes me realize that we still have a ways to go in a scientific research. The scientific claims based on evidence are changing all the time.
Not a long time ago, you were really suppose to take enough vitamin D to have stronger bones. And vitamin D is promoting stronger bones. But does it really? Now, vitamin D prevents falls in group of older people too. That’s pretty recent.
How does vitamin D prevent falls? That’s not clear yet, but I would guess it to have something to do with more concentration and brain function. Time will tell. In the mean time, I don’t really know what it does. That doesn’t mean you should stop taking it. Having plenty of vitamin D is important for optimal health. But how it really works nobody really knows.
Another example of this kind of scientific claim is that saturated fat increases heart disease risks. But there are cultures in the world like Eskimos who’s diet consists mainly of saturated fat. And they live long and healthy life’s. So it really isn’t saturated fat that causes heart attacks.
It is what else you eat in your diet and how many calories you consume from processed foods that matters. But scientists still don’t have a clear understanding what’s really causing the heart attack at the very beginning. Is it fat? Is it sugar? Is it some chemical in processed food? Is it trans fat? Well, they can’t tell you for sure. Which is pretty scary.
The message for you here is – don’t believe everything what science claims. It will probably change many more times before these well meaning folks actually get it right. Nobody knows.
Stick with common sense healthy eating and healthy living. Nothing else really works. Plain natural diet consisted of whole foods and plenty of physical movement in your days are the certain things we all know that work. Everything else is a big mystery.