Older Women With High Or Low Levels Of Vitamin D In Their Blood Are At Greater Risk Of Frailty

U.S. scientists have found a link between both lower and higher levels of vitamin D and the increased likelihood of frailty in older women. Frailty, marked by weakness and slowness, has been shown to result from vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D supplementation is often recommended when levels in the blood are lower than 30 ng/ml. For the study, researchers measured vitamin D data on 6,307 women aged 69 and older. They found that women with vitamin D levels higher than 30 ng/ml or lower than 20 ng/ml were more likely to be frail. Women whose vitamin D levels were between 20.0 and 29.9 ng/ml had the lowest risk of frailty. The researchers recommended that large, randomized clinical trials should be conducted to determine the health effects of vitamin D supplementation.