• Investigation the role of calcium and vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis (Systematic review)
  • Shiva Sharifzadeh,1,* Zineb Azarmehri,2
    1. School of Pharmacy, Medical University of Mashhad
    2. School of Nursery and Midwifery, Gonabad Islamic Azad University


  • Introduction: Osteoporosis is a type of metabolic bone disease that characterized by low bone mass and leading to increased risk of fracture hip, spine and other skeletal areas. It is more common in women than men, because of loss bone mass in women. Adequate nutrition, vitamin D and calcium have synergistic roles in maintaining musculoskeletal health and are the first step in the care of osteoporosis. Clinical evidence supports this effective and inexpensive treatment. So, the aim of this study is to investigating the role of calcium and vitamin D in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
  • Methods: This review article was performed within articles published at PubMed, Science direct, Google Scholar, SID and ISC from 2000 to 2019. The keywords were osteoporosis, Vitamin D, Calcium, treatment. By searching this database, 140 articles were found, 83 of them were not related with investigating and 39 of them by reading abstract were removed. All articles chosen from English and Persian articles.
  • Results: Finally 18 articles were included in the study. In at least 4 articles reported that whole body exposure to sunlight would be equivalent 10000IU oral vitamin D intake. Also in one study that performed in postmenopausal women showed that vitamin D deficiency can lead to hip fractures and is recommended the addition of vitamin D and calcium supplements in diet reduces the risk of next fracture. There is also a relationship between the amount of calcium intake and their job’s women, so that housewives consumed less calcium that leading to most fractures.
  • Conclusion: Calcium and Vitamin D supplementation are a first-line and cost-effective medication in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis but not sufficient component of an integrated strategy. These findings do not support a benefit of high-dose vitamin D or calcium supplementation for bone health; further research would be needed to be done at this topic.
  • Keywords: Osteoporosis, Vitamin D, Calcium, Treatment