Age impacts vitamin D effects in fibromyalgia – new research

Vitamin D supplements help young and old people with fibromyalgia, but in different ways, suggests interesting new research. Previous work has suggested a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and widespread chronic pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia. So a research group looked at the effect of supplementation with vitamin D (plus exercise) in 80 people with fibromyalgia. The volunteers were split into groups depending on their age – those less than 50 years old and those older. Both groups were given weekly high doses of vitamin D for three months along with a physical activity programme. Vitamin D levels were taken every three months via blood test.

• In the group under 50 years old, vitamin D supplementation improved short-term musculoskeletal pain and long-term functional capacity;
• In the older group, musculoskeletal pain and long-term quality of life were improved.

The research group concludes that “supplementing with high doses of vitamin D in fibromyalgia patients improves the quality of life and pain in the elderly and also the functional capacity in the young.” Click here to read the original research. PS Did you know that Arthritis Digest Magazine is labelled the best UK Arthritis blog from thousands of blogs on the web ranked by traffic, social media followers, domain authority & freshness?