Science and Technology Daily, Beijing, December 4th (Reporter Liu Xia) - An international team has jointly conducted the largest randomized controlled trial of vitamin D supplements in children to date. The research results show that vitamin D supplements do not increase bone strength or prevent fractures in children with vitamin D deficiency. This latest discovery challenges the previously widely held view that vitamin D contributes to bone health. The related paper was published in the latest issue of The Lancet diabetes and Endocrinology. About one-third of children will experience at least one fracture before the age of 18, which is a significant global health issue. Fractures in children can lead to lifelong disability and low quality of life. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the role of vitamin D in promoting bone mineralization and the potential of vitamin D supplements to improve bone strength. However, clinical trials aimed at testing whether vitamin D supplements can prevent childhood fractures have not yet been conducted. Scientists from Queen Mary University, Harvard University, and Mongolia have collaborated to conduct a clinical trial to determine whether supplementing with vitamin D reduces the risk of fractures or increases bone strength in children. For a period of 3 years, 8851 school children aged 6-13 living in Mongolia took a certain dose of vitamin D supplements orally per week. 95.5% of participants had vitamin D deficiency at the beginning of the experiment. The research results show that supplements are very effective in raising the vitamin D levels of these children to the normal range. But after using quantitative ultrasound measurements on 1438 participants, the research team found that vitamin D supplements had no effect on the risk of fractures or bone strength in children. However, researchers suggest that the importance of consuming sufficient vitamin D in preventing chondropathy should not be overlooked. (Lai Xin She)