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.

“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.