A prospective trial of the effect of vitamin D supplementation on metacarpal bone loss in elderly women.

The effect on cortical bone loss oftreating elderly women with 15,000 IU vitamin D2 weekly was evaluated by sequential radiographic morphometry ofthe metacarpals. One hundred nine randomly selected women aged 65-74 yr were studied for 2 yr. The women were randomly allocated to control or treated groups taking placebo or vitamin D2 capsules. Hand radiographs and blood samples were obtained at the beginning and end of the trial. Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured by radio-competitive protein binding assay. Comparing the treated and control groups, vitamin D treatment significantly raised the plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (p <0.001) and reduced the rate of cortical bone loss (p <0.01). The placebo had no measurable effect on the plasma levels. Am J Clin Nutr l985;42:470-474.