Harvard Health Content API

Regular exercise and vitamin D pills may be the best ways to prevent falls among older adults, an expert group says. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent group that issues advice on preventive health care. The task force combined results from 54 previous studies. They included more than 26,000 people. Taking vitamin D reduced the risk of falling by an average of 17%. About half of the studies used doses above recommended levels. Some people also took calcium. Exercise reduced fall risk by about 13%. A variety of programs were included. Some worked on improving balance and flexibility. Some included weight training. Others focused on walking. The task force said other strategies also can help reduce falls. They include removing hazards in the home, changing medicines and fixing vision problems. The task force is writing formal guidelines for doctors.

Echinacea might help cold symptoms to go away a few hours sooner, a new study suggests. But the difference was so small it could have occurred by chance. Researchers recruited more than 700 adults and children with colds for the study. They were randomly divided into 4 groups. Two groups took echinacea pills. One group knew it was taking echinacea. The other group did not know. The third group took placebo (fake) pills. The fourth group didn’t get any pills. People were asked to write down their symptoms twice a day. For those taking echinacea, symptoms ended an average of half a day sooner. The journal Annals of Internal Medicine published the study. The Associated Press wrote about it December 21.