Vitamin D Supplements Fall Short on Fall Prevention

Investigators have linked low levels of vitamin D to muscle weakness and low bone mineral density that could put people at risk for broken bones. (We have written about these problems here.) They have suggested that stronger muscles would help prevent falls. That has led some experts to propose that perhaps people should take vitamin D supplements to strengthen their bones and muscles. Unfortunately, though, the studies that have been done to date do not support these supplements for fall prevention.

Finnish Vitamin D Trial Did Not Demonstrate Fall Prevention at Any Dose:

Falls are dangerous for older people and can result in injury, limited mobility and even death. For decades, scientists have wondered whether vitamin D might help with muscle strength and balance, and thus prevent falls. The results of studies have been inconsistent or outright disappointing.

Finnish researchers took advantage of an existing study called the Finnish Vitamin D Trial (FIND) to investigate this question (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Jan. 13, 2026). Nearly 2,500 healthy older participants were assigned to take placebo or vitamin D3 at at one of two doses: 1600 IU/day or 3200 IU/day. The investigators collected data on falls and injuries at baseline, and at 1, 2, 3 and 5 years after the study began.

Blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D increased among the individuals taking vitamin D supplements. Consequently, we can conclude that the volunteers were taking their supplements and that the vitamin was absorbed.

Over five years, just over half the volunteers had taken a fall and 11% had sustained injuries. Those proportions did not vary much between any of the groups, including those on placebo.

The scientists concluded

“Five-year vitamin D3 supplementation of 1600 IU/day or 3200 IU/day did not affect the overall risk of falls or fall injuries among generally healthy, largely vitamin D sufficient men and women.“

An Earlier Study of Vitamin D Supplements for Fall Prevention:

About ten years ago, a study of 230 postmenopausal women in Madison, Wisconsin, compared high and low-dose vitamin D supplements (JAMA Internal Medicine, Oct, 2015). The low-dose regimen was white pills daily containing 800 IU of vitamin D3, and two yellow placebo pills each month. The high-dose regimen consisted of white placebo pills daily and two yellow vitamin D3 pills every month with 50,000 IU each. All the women started the study with low blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (between 14 and 27 ng/ml).

The Consequences of Vitamin D Supplements:

Although high-dose supplementation was able to raise low serum levels of vitamin D to at least 30 ng/ml, neither regimen had any impact on measures of bone or muscle strength. More importantly, neither was better than placebo at fall prevention.

The reasonable conclusion is that vitamin D supplements are unlikely to keep women from suffering broken bones after menopause, when they may be most vulnerable. Most exercise physiologists recommend weight-bearing activities (ie, not swimming or cycling) for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining muscle tone. People with strong muscles and good balance appear less likely to fall or to suffer injury if they do fall.

Learn More:

To learn more about vitamin D, consider our Guide to Vitamin D Deficiency.

Editor’s Note: As we sometimes do, we have updated the information in this post to reflect more recent findings. In this instance, the outcomes of two studies published more than a decade apart were surprisingly similar.