Zee Media Bureau/Liji Varghese
New Delhi: According to a latest study, older men with low levels vitamin B12 are at a high risk of having bone fractures.
Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg observed 1,000 Swedish men with an average age of 75 and used various methods to analyse the blood concentrations of the B vitamins B12 and folate.
The results showed that men with the lowest B-12 levels were about 70 per cent more likely to have suffered a fracture than others.
Although the study linked lower vitamin B-12 levels to a higher risk of fracture in older men, researcher are not yet sure whether adding more of the vitamin found naturally in foods like eggs, fish, poultry and other meats to diet can help prevent fractures.
"The higher risk also remains when we take other risk factors for fractures into consideration, such as age, smoking, body mass index, bone-mineral density, previous fractures, physical activity, the vitamin D content in the blood and calcium intake," study author Catharina Lewerin, a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, said in a university news release.
"Right now, there is no reason to eat more vitamin B-12, but rather treatment shall only be applied in confirmed cases of deficiencies and in some cases to prevent deficiencies. For anyone who wants to strengthen their bones and prevent fractures, physical activity 30 minutes a day and quitting smoking is good self care," she added.
This study was published online in the journal Osteoporosis International.
