Most nutritionists argue that conventional medicine just doesn't get nutrition. The RDA levels are far too low to be effective, and yet it's usually the marker used by researchers when assessing the effectiveness of vitamins. As a result, the study is usually negative.
So it's interesting to see what happens when researchers on the rare occasion actually test vitamins at a level that nutritionists would recognize as reasonable.
Nutritionists argue that vitamin D can help prevent fracture, but it's been hard to find studies that support their belief, obvious though it may seem. A research team from Harvard School of Public Health tested the theory by reassessing the data collected from 12 studies that involved a total of 19,114 recruits who were at least 60 years of age.
The researchers discovered that vitamin D was not a preventative at standard RDA levels of around 400 IUs, but it started to work wonders among participants who were given between 700 and 800 IUs, double the recommended level. The risk of hip fracture fell by 26 per cent, and by 23 per cent for non-vertebral fracture, among those given the higher dose, while the risk was not reduced among those taking the 400 IU level.