The effects of zinc supplementation on serum zinc and cholesterol concentrations in hemodialysis patients.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

To examine the effect of zinc sulfate supplementation on the concentrations of serum zinc and serum cholesterol in hemodialysis (HD) patients.

Who Took Part

The study group was 15 women.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Outpatient dialysis center in a large metropolitan city.

Twenty-eight maintenance HD patients were selected.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

Because people in this Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the women nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some women received a placebo instead of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, giving a reference point.

Twenty (15 women and 5 men) completed the study.

Subjects were identified for inclusion in the study by the following criteria: HD treatment for a minimum of 6 months, no signs of gastrointestinal disorders, and no record of hospitalizations for reasons other than vascular access complications within the last 3 months.

Patients completed 2-day food records, at day 0 and day 90 of the study, which included 1 dialysis day and 1 nondialysis day.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Astringents, Cholesterol, Diet Records, Dietary Supplements, Energy Intake, Kidney Failure, Chronic and Renal Dialysis.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 15 women.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 16 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2002 (Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.