Supplements don’t slow disease progression or ease pain, even in patients with low levels of the vitamin
WEDNESDAY, March 9, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Vitamin D supplements don’t appear to relieve pain or slow the progression of knee osteoarthritis in patients with low levels of the vitamin, according to a study published in the March 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Changhai Ding, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, and colleagues randomly assigned 413 patients with knee osteoarthritis and low vitamin D levels to monthly treatment with either 50,000 International Units of vitamin D a month or a placebo.
Over two years of follow-up, the investigators did not see any difference between the groups in reduced pain, change in tibiofemoral cartilage defects, or change in tibiofemoral bone marrow lesions.
“These data suggest a lack of evidence to support vitamin D supplementation for slowing disease progression or structural change in knee osteoarthritis,” Ding told HealthDay.
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