Neither vitamin D nor omega-3s affect frailty in older adults

Physician Information Staff
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 14, 2022 (HealthDay News) — According to a study published online Sept. 13 in Open JAMA Network.
Ariela R. Orkaby, MD, MPH, of Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, and colleagues conducted a 2 x 2 factorial randomized trial to examine the effects of vitamin D₃ and omega-3 supplements on frailty in 25,871 people (men aged 50 and elderly and women aged 55 and over) without cancer or cardiovascular disease. Sufficient data to calculate a frailty index were available for 25,057 participants.
The mean frailty score was 0.109 and 12.7% of participants were frail. Researchers found that neither vitamin D₃ nor omega-3 supplementation affected mean frailty scores over time (mean difference at 5 years: vitamin D₃, -0.0002; omega-3, -0, 0001) or the rate of change in the mean frailty score. Over time, the fragility of the incidents has remained similar. Using the physical frailty phenotype, the results were similar.
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“These findings do not support the routine use of vitamin D₃ or omega-3 fatty acid supplements for the prevention of frailty in healthy, community-dwelling older adults,” the authors write.