Nutraceuticals and nootropics for anti-aging

Vitamin A usage linked to bone fracture risk

A Swedish clinical study of vitamin A use in men of age 49 to 51 years has shown that bone fractures are more common in men with higher serum retinol levels. Serum retinol levels were taken as an indicator of vitamin A usage.

This study is already being used in the medical community to discourage people from taking vitamin A supplements. Yet it is just one study, and has major shortcomings. One such shortcoming is mentioned in an article in Newsday: only one retinol reading was taken from each patient during the entire study.

A second, and potentially even greater, weakness is that the study ignores the possibility that other supplements could counteract and reverse the bone fragility caused by excess vitamin A. For example, supplements that raise testosterone and/or estrogen levels are known to strengthen bones. Why, then, should someone in middle age or older, who undoubtedly already suffers from age-related hormone deficiencies, forego the benefits of vitamin A in order to prevent fractures, when they could instead combine vitamin A usage with hormone replacement therapy and get the benefits of both?

Link to a summary of the study:

Serum retinol levels and the risk of fracture.

Link to the Newsday article:

Study: Vitamin A supplements raise risk of broken bones