Vitamin-D,calcium pills could be harmful

It also concludes that calcium supplements are not needed.

The very high levels of vitamin D that are often recommended by doctors and can be achieved only by taking supplements are unnecessary and could be harmful,an expert committee said. It also concludes that calcium supplements are not needed.

The group said most people have adequate amounts of vitamin D in their blood supplied by their diets and natural sources like sunshine,the committee said in a report that is to be released on Tuesday. For most people,taking extra calcium and vitamin D supplements is not indicated, said Dr Clifford J Rosen,a member of the panel and an osteoporosis expert at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute.

Dr J Christopher Gallagher,director of the bone metabolism unit at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha,Nebraska,agreed,adding,The onus is on the people who propose extra calcium and vitamin D to show it is safe before they push it on people. Over the past few years,the idea that nearly everyone needs extra calcium and vitamins especially vitamin D has swept the nation.

With calcium,adolescent girls may be the only group that is getting too little,the panel found. Older women,on the other hand,may take too much,putting themselves at risk for kidney stones. And there is evidence that excess calcium can increase the risk of heart disease,the group wrote.

As for vitamin D,some prominent doctors have said that most people need supplements or they will be at increased risk for a wide variety of illnesses,including heart disease,cancer and autoimmune diseases. And these days more and more people know their vitamin D levels because they are being tested for it as part of routine physical exams.

At the same time,vitamin D sales have soared,growing faster than those of any supplement,according to The Nutrition Business Journal. Sales rose 82 per cent from 2008 to 2009,reaching $430 million. Everyone was hoping vitamin D would be kind of a panacea, Dr Black said. The report,he added,might quell the craze.

The 14-member expert committee was convened by the Institute of Medicine,an independent nonprofit scientific body,at the request of the US and Canadian governments. It was asked to examine the available data nearly 1,000 publications to determine how much vitamin D and calcium people were getting,how much was needed for optimal health and how much was too much. The two nutrients work together for bone health.

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Bone health,though,is only one of the benefits that have been attributed to vitamin D,and there is not enough good evidence to support other claims,the committee said. Some labs have started reporting levels of less than 30 nanograms of vitamin D per millilitre of blood as a deficiency. With that standard,80 per cent of the population would be deemed deficient of vitamin D,Dr Rosen said. But,the committee concluded,a level of 20 to 30 nanograms is all that is needed for bone health,and nearly everyone is in that range.

To assess the amounts of vitamin D and calcium people are getting,the panel looked at national data on diets. Most people,they concluded,get enough calcium from the foods they eat,about 1,000 milligrams a day for most adults (1,200 for women ages 51 to 70).

Vitamin D is more complicated. Most people are not getting enough vitamin D from their diets,but they have enough of the vitamin in their blood,probably because they are also making it naturally after being out in the sun. The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and other groups applauded the report. It is a very balanced set of recommendations, said Dr Sundeep Khosla,a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist and the societys president.GINA KOLATA