Vitamin D Supplements Provide No Benefit To People With Knee Osteoarthritis

Supplementing the diet with vitamin D has no positive impact on pain associated with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, a two-year randomized U.S. trial has found. Knee osteoarthritis (OA) has significant functional impact and has considerable societal costs through work loss, early retirement, and arthroplasty. No medical treatments influence the course of the disease. Some studies have suggested that vitamin D may protect against structural progression. The 2-year trial included 146 participants with symptomatic knee OA. Participants randomly received either a placebo or oral cholecalciferol daily. But the supplements “did not have major effects on clinical or structural outcomes in knee OA.”