Circulating serum vitamin D levels and total body bone mineral density: A Mendelian randomization study.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to determine whether genetically increased vitamin D levels, often supplemented with calcium, could improve total body bone mineral density (BMD) in the general population.
Results Summary
The study found no statistically significant association between genetically increased vitamin D levels and total body BMD, consistent with recent clinical trials. Vitamin D supplementation alone may not reduce fracture incidence in adults without vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or prior fracture.
Population
General population (79,366 individuals for vitamin D GWAS; 66,628 individuals for BMD GWAS)
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vitamin D | no change | bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fracture | - | no convincing evidence | not demonstrated convincing evidence that could improve | #1 |
vitamin D in combination with calcium supplementation | no change | bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fracture | - | no convincing evidence | not demonstrated convincing evidence that could improve | #2 |
genetically increased vitamin D levels | no change | total body BMD | 79,366 individuals (vitamin D GWAS) and 66,628 individuals (BMD GWAS) | no statistically significant association | did not show statistically significant association | #3 |
increased vitamin D levels | no change | BMD | the general population | could not improve | could not improve | #4 |
vitamin D supplementation alone | no change | fracture incidence | community-dwelling adults without known vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or prior fracture | may not be associated with reduced | may not be associated with reduced | #5 |
Until recently, randomized controlled trials have not demonstrated convincing evidence that vitamin D, or vitamin D in combination with calcium supplementation could improve bone mineral density (BMD), osteoporosis and fracture. It remains unclear whether vitamin D levels are causally associated with total body BMD. Here, we performed a Mendelian randomization study to investigate the association of vitamin D levels with total body BMD using a large-scale vitamin D genome-wide association study (GWAS) dataset (including 79 366 individuals) and a large-scale total body BMD GWAS dataset (including 66,628 individuals). We selected three Mendelian randomization methods including inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis (IVW), weighted median regression and MR-Egger regression. All these three methods did not show statistically significant association of genetically increased vitamin D levels with total body BMD. Importantly, our findings are consistent with recent randomized clinical trials and Mendelian randomization study. In summary, we provide genetic evidence that increased vitamin D levels could not improve BMD in the general population. Hence, vitamin D supplementation alone may not be associated with reduced fracture incidence among community-dwelling adults without known vitamin D deficiency, osteoporosis, or prior fracture.