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Vitamin D may help reduce falls

LTC Liability Monitor, June 9, 2005

Boston researchers found that nursing home residents who received 800 international units (IUs) of Vitamin D had 71% fewer falls compared to control groups that received a placebo or lower doses of the vitamin, according to a report in Maclean's magazine, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Douglas Kiel said his research team does not know how the vitamin worked to reduce the falls so quickly, but speculated it has something to do with the vitamin's action on muscles, which contain receptors for the vitamin and manufacture protein. He recommended nursing home residents ingest at least 800 IUs of Vitamin D to help reduce falls. Higher levels of Vitamin D may be required to reach maximum benefit because most of the residents in the study were already receiving a supplement that provided 400 IUs or less, the magazine reported.

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