Eastbridge Geriatric Centre announced on Monday that it will no longer automatically prescribe daily calcium and vitamin D supplements to patients aged 65 and older, a policy reversal affecting roughly 3,200 registered patients. The decision follows publication of the Global Bone Health Review in March 2026, which pooled data from more than 200 randomised trials and concluded that routine supplementation produced only marginal reductions in fracture risk for most community-dwelling older adults.
Dr. Marjorie Havel, the clinic’s medical director, said the centre’s multidisciplinary team updated its prescribing protocol after internal audits found wide variation in how supplements were offered. “We saw that for many patients the assumed benefit simply wasn’t supported by the newer synthesis of evidence,” Havel said. “Rather than give every older person a tablet, we’re prioritising targeted assessment and interventions that demonstrably reduce falls and improve bone strength.”
The Global Bone Health Review, produced by the International Osteology Consortium and led by researchers at Eastbridge University, analysed outcomes for more than 120,000 participants and concluded that calcium and vitamin D, when used broadly in populations without specific deficiencies, reduced hip fractures by an estimated 2 percent and overall fractures by 1.3 percent — effects the authors described as of “limited clinical significance” for the general older population. The review recommended focusing resources on fall-prevention programmes, strength training and screening for people at high risk.
At the clinic, that has translated into a shift of resources: more physiotherapy slots, a fall-risk nurse assessment, and a weekly supervised resistance-class at the community centre. The number of written supplement prescriptions dropped by 41 percent in the six months after the policy change took effect in June, clinic records show. “We didn’t stop treating bone health,” Havel added. “We reframed it.”
Patients have reacted with a mix of relief, confusion and curiosity. Ellen Trask, 72, had been taking over-the-counter calcium pills for a decade and said she had assumed they were essential. “I felt like I was doing something important for my bones,” Trask said. “It’s reassuring that the clinic is testing alternatives, but I’d like more explanation about why the pills might not help me as much as I thought.” The clinic has responded by sending out explanatory letters and holding group information sessions led by a pharmacist and a physiotherapist.
Local pharmacists say the change is already visible on the shop floor. Jamal Ruiz, owner of Parkside Pharmacy, said foot traffic for calcium supplements has fallen and customers ask more often about exercise classes and bone-density scans. “People used to come in and ask, ‘what dosage should I buy?’ Now they ask whether they should be doing squats,” Ruiz said. “Our counselling time has shifted.”
Not everyone agrees with the new emphasis. Dr. Helena Sato, one of the lead authors of the Global Bone Health Review and a professor of clinical epidemiology at Eastbridge University, cautioned against dismissing supplements in specific clinical contexts. “For patients with documented dietary deficiency, malabsorption syndromes or certain medications that interfere with bone metabolism, supplements remain an important tool,” Sato said. “But our work shows that blanket recommendations do not deliver the public-health benefits we had assumed.”
