"If taking more vitamin and mineral supplements is part of your plan for a healthier new year a new study may prompt you to reconsider. Researchers who scoured the medical literature for evidence that calcium httpsods.od.nih.govfactsheetsCalciumConsumer and vitamin D httpsods.od.nih.govfactsheetsVitaminDConsumer pills could help prevent bone fractures came up empty. Their analysis focused on adults older than age  who lived on their own that is not in a nursing home or other type of residential care facility. Fractures are a serious health concern for this population  previous studies have found that about  of women in this age group will wind up with at least one major osteoporotic fracture at some point in their lives and that among adults who break a hip  died within a year of their injury. The researchers led by Dr. JiaGuo Zhao https_Guo_Zhao of Tianjin Hospital in northeastern China combed through clinical trials systematic reviews and other reports published in the last decade since late . They identified  people who were included in studies assessing the role of calcium andor vitamin D in preventing bone fractures. Their findings httpsjamanetwork.comjournalsjamafullarticle appear in Tuesdays edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Among the  trials that pitted calcium supplements against either a placebo or no treatment there was no statistically significant relationship between use of the mineral in pill form and the risk of suffering a hip fracture. Nor was there any clear link between calcium supplements and fractures involving the spine or other bones. Even when the researchers accounted for each study participants gender past history of bone fractures the amount of calcium they consumed in their diets and the dose of the calcium pills they took if they did there was still no sign that supplements were helpful. An additional  trials examined the role of vitamin D which helps the body absorb calcium. Once again they found no statistically significant link between supplement use and hip fracture risk. Ditto for fractures in the spine and elsewhere. Upon drilling down to certain subgroups they found that for people who started out with at least  nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood adding more vitamin D through supplements was associated with a greater risk of hip fractures. The same was true for people who took high doses of vitamin D supplements just once a year. Finally there were  trials involving people who took a combined calciumvitamin D supplement. As before there was no statistically significant link between supplement use and the risk for any kind of fracture or combination of fractures. That held up even when accounting for gender past fractures supplement dose dietary calcium or baseline blood levels of vitamin D. The researchers noted that thousands of people in this final group were participants in the Womens Health Initiative https a longterm study sponsored by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in the U.S. Earlier reports based on data gathered by the Womens Health Initiative found that calcium and vitamin D supplements were associated with a lower risk of fractures but only for women who took hormone therapy after menopause. To get a clearer picture of the direct link if any between supplements and fracture risk Zhao and his colleagues opted not to include data from women on hormone therapy. Its still possible that calcium and vitamin D supplements are useful for people who live in nursing homes or other residential facilities the study authors wrote. Such people are more likely to have osteoporosis due to a combination of poor diet less sun exposure which the body needs to synthesize vitamin D and other factors. But for older adults who live on their own they wrote the results are clear These findings do not support the routine use of these supplements."