"If there is the possibility of reducing the risk of a devastating fracture by supplementing with calcium and vitamin D, as some research has found, people should not be dissuaded from supplementation by a meta-analysis that is meant as a general recommendation and may not apply to each individual," Wong added.WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.SOURCES: Jia-Guo Zhao, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, Tianjin Hospital, Tianjin, China; Daniel Smith, M.D.,  assistant professor, orthopedics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; Andrea Wong, Ph.D., vice president, scientific and regulatory affairs, Council for Responsible Nutrition; Dec. 26, 2017, Folate? If you do a little digging into what’s “When you’re trying to conceive or if you’re pregnant, it’s important to look closely at all prescription and over-the-counter medications, as well as dietary supplements you’re taking,” says Tieraona Low Dog, MD, chief medical advisor for Combining those key nutrients into one supplement (like Here’s a little fun fact about folate: It comes in active and inactive forms.

Too little calcium can lead to osteoporosis.

"Milk, vegetable, fruit and bean products are the most important food sources of calcium. The dosage of the supplements varied between the clinical trials, as did the frequency at which they were taken.The pooled data revealed no significant association between calcium or vitamin D supplements and a person's risk of hip fracture or other broken bones, compared with people who received placebos or no treatment at all.Calcium and vitamin D are still essential to bone health, but these results indicate you should get them through your diet and lifestyle rather than from supplements, Zhao explained. Other than helping to boost your good mood, vitamin D plays a role in bone, muscle, nerve, and cellular health,* Dr. Low Dog says. Making sure that your prenatal supplement includes 5-MTHF so that your body can help put it into action to support your baby’s growth. All rights reserved. ""Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin in response to ultraviolet-B radiation in sunlight, and dietary sources of vitamin D are limited," Zhao continued. "Dietary calcium is irreplaceable for skeletal health," Zhao said. TUESDAY, Dec. 26, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors are wasting their time and money taking It turns out there's little evidence supplements protect against hip "The routine use of these supplements is unnecessary in community-dwelling older people," said lead researcher Dr. Jia-Guo Zhao, an orthopedic surgeon with Tianjin Hospital in China. Men and women older than that should get 1,200 mg daily.For their analysis, Zhao and his colleagues combed through medical literature to find clinical trials that previously tested the usefulness of calcium and Vitamin D supplements. "I think that it is time to stop taking calcium and vitamin D supplements.

"Not all experts agreed with this conclusion, however. The active form of folate is methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), but not all women have the genes to fully convert folate into the active form, according to Dr. Low Dog.The solution?

Low vitamin D levels are pretty common. "The potential benefit of calcium and vitamin D supplementation in preventing even a small number of hip fractures far outweighs the otherwise minimum risks associated with routine calcium and vitamin D supplementation in at-risk populations," Smith added.It's been longstanding medical advice that aging people focus on getting enough calcium and vitamin D to preserve their bone health as they age.About 99 percent of the calcium in the human body is stored in the bones and teeth, and the body cannot produce the mineral on its own, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.