Short-Term Correction of Vitamin D Deficiency in Healthy Young Women

These days, some clinicians check vitamin D levels even in healthy young adults, despite a lack of evidence that screening for vitamin D deficiency confers benefit in this age group. In a placebo-controlled trial in India, 173 healthy young women (mean age, 22) with vitamin D deficiency (mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] level, 9 ng/mL) were randomized to four groups: Vitamin D₃ alone, calcium alone, both, or neither. The vitamin D₃ dose was 60,000 IU weekly for 2 months, then twice monthly for 4 months. The elemental calcium dose was 500 mg twice daily. The researchers were particularly interested in whether supplementation would improve muscle strength (as occurs in some older patients).

At 6 months, mean 25(OH)D levels had risen to nearl…