Supporting bone health has to be vitamin D’s claim to fame—thanks to its role in aiding calcium absorption. What’s less known is how vitamin D status impacts one’s likelihood of experiencing a break (or fracture) in a bone. 

Bone fractures are unfortunately a common concern as people get older. With age, bone density and quality weaken and the bones become more fragile and prone to breaking. In fact, up to 50% of women and 22% of men are expected to experience a fracture in their lives. 

So if vitamin D is good for bone health, then taking a vitamin D supplement must be a given to prevent fractures, right? Well, considering that most people are deficient or insufficient in this vitamin, and getting adequate quantities from the sun or food alone is unlikely, mindbodygreen does believe that pretty much everyone would benefit from a vitamin D supplement. 

But we’d be remiss not to mention that research specifically on vitamin D supplements and bone fractures hasn’t been super straightforward. So we’re going to do our best to break it down for you.