USPSTF Advises Against Vitamin D, Calcium Supplementation for Preventing Fractures

Contrary to the advice some physicians have been given, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends against daily supplementation of vitamin D and calcium as a routine practice for the primary prevention of fractures in postmenopausal women, further noting that there is insufficient evidence to recommend supplementation in premenopausal women or in men. “Historically speaking, we’ve been encouraged to look at a woman’s presumed calcium intake—and I have been taught in the past that very few women are going to get that recommended daily allowance from food and that we should be routinely supplementing women,” said USPSTF Co-vice Chair Michael LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H., in a February 27, 2013, AAFP News Now article.