Reducing your odds of getting a debilitating form of vertigo from recurring may be as simple as taking vitamin D and calcium twice a day, new research suggests.
This study was focused on benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), a sudden spinning sensation that’s commonly triggered by changing your head position. According to the researchers, about 86% of people who have this type of vertigo find that it severely affects their life and daily activities.
Patients suffering from BPPV usually undergo treatment with a doctor performing series of head movements that shift particles in their ears which cause the vertigo; but the condition tends to recur frequently. The study, which is published in the journal Neurology, suggests that supplementation with vitamin D and calcium may be the first medical treatment that prevents recurrence.
“Our study suggests that for people with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, taking a supplement of vitamin D and calcium is a simple, low-risk way to prevent vertigo from recurring. It is especially effective if you have low vitamin D levels to begin with,” said Dr Ji-Soo Kim, lead researcher from Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea.
For the study, researchers looked at 957 people in Korea with BPPV who had been successfully treated with head movements. These participants were separated into two separate groups – intervention and observation.
The 445 participants in the intervention group had their vitamin D levels examined at the start of the study. Of these, 348 people were found to have vitamin D levels below 20ng/ml (nanograms per millilitre) and were started on supplements with 400 international units of vitamin D and 500mg (milligrams) of calcium twice daily. Those with vitamin D levels equal or greater than 20ng/ml were not given supplements.
Participants in the intervention group who took the supplements had a lower recurrence rate for vertigo episodes after an average of one year than those in the observation group. Participants who took supplements had an average recurrence rate of 0.83 times per person, compared to 1.10 times per person for those in the observation group, which is a 24% reduction in the annual recurrence rate.
From the results, researchers witnessed a greater benefit for those who were more deficient in vitamin D at the start of the study. Those participants who started with vitamin D levels lower than 10ng/ml saw a 45% reduction in annual recurrence rate, while those starting with vitamin D levels at 10ng/ml to 20ng/ml saw only a 14% reduction. A total of 38% of the people in the intervention group had another episode of vertigo, compared to 47% of those in the observation group.
“Our results are exciting because so far, going to the doctor to have them perform head movements has been the main way we treat benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Our study suggests an inexpensive, low-risk treatment like vitamin D and calcium tablets may be effective at preventing this common, and commonly recurring, disorder,” said Dr Kim.
The study, however, has limitations, in that a large number of participants did not complete the entire study, with more people assigned to take the supplements dropping out of the study than in the observation group.
