Effects of short-term vitamin D supplementation on musculoskeletal and body balance for prevention of falling in postmenopausal women

Abstract

© 2015, Medical Association of Thailand. All right reserved. Objective: The objective of this research was to examine the effects of the short-duration (4 weeks) vitamin D supplementation on biochemical bone markers, muscle strength and balance of the postmenopausal females. Material and Method: The participants consisted of 52 female participants from Chulalongkorn University, aged between 45-55 years old. They were divided into two groups: 26 females in the vitamin D supplementation (VID) and 26 females in the control group (CON) by the simple random sampling method. The experimental group received 20,000 IU of vitamin D2 per week, for a period of 4 weeks. The control group did not receive vitamin D2. The collected data before and after the experiment were the results of the physiology test, the biochemical bone markers, the muscle strength and the balance ability. The collected data were compared and analyzed by the mean and standard deviation. The differences of the tests are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Results: After the 4-week experiment, the vitamin D2 supplementation group had significantly improved balance ability on normal stability surfaces when being compared with the pretest and the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: A short-term vitamin D2 supplementation had positive effect on balance. This is, therefore, a good alternative for postmenopausal people and may reduce the risks of falling in women in particular.