The daily average calcium intake in Europe has been evaluated in the SENECA
study concerning the diet of elderly people from 19 towns of 10 European countries. In about one third of subjects the dietary calcium intake results were very low, between 300 and 600 mg/day in women, and 350 and 700 mg/day in
men. Calcium supplements reduce the rate of bone loss in osteoporotic patients.
Some recent studies have reported a significant positive effect of calcium treatment not only on bone mass but also on fracture incidence. The SENECA study, has also shown that vitamin D insufficiency is frequent in elderly populations in Europe. There are a number of studies on the effects of vitamin D supplementation on bone loss in the elderly, showing that supplementations with daily doses of 400±800 IU of vitamin D, given alone or in combination with calcium, are able to reverse vitamin D insufficiency, to prevent bone loss and to improve bone density
in the elderly