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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #393218
Research Project: Nutrient Metabolism and Musculoskeletal Health in Older Adults

Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging

Title: Vitamin D: bolus is bogus--a narrative review

Author
item MAZESS, RICHARD B - University Of Wisconsin
item BISCHOFF-FERRARI, HEIKE - University Of Zurich
item DAWSON-HUGHES, BESS - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University

Submitted to: JBMR Plus
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/27/2021
Publication Date: 10/14/2021
Citation: Mazess, R., Bischoff-Ferrari, H., Dawson-Hughes, B. 2021. Vitamin D: bolus is bogus--a narrative review. JBMR Plus. 5(12): e10567. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm4.10567.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm4.10567

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In this review we summarize the impact of bolus versus daily dosing of vitamin D on 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D levels, as well as on key countervailing factors that block vitamin D functions at the cellular level. Further, we discuss the role of bolus versus daily dosing of vitamin D for several health outcomes, including respiratory infections and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), rickets, falls and fractures, any cancer, and cancer-related mortality. This discussion appears timely because bolus doses continue to be tested for various disease outcomes despite a growing amount of evidence suggesting lack of efficacy or even detrimental effects of bolus dosing of vitamin D for outcomes where daily dosing at modest levels was effective in the vitamin D deficient. As a result, these discordant results may bias health recommendations for vitamin D if the recommendations are based on meta-analyses combining both daily and bolus dosing trials.