[Effect of zinc supplements on the nutritional status of patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis].

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in this randomized controlled trial publication.

To test the effect of zinc supplementation on the nutritional status of patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 12 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as teenagers, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Patients were randomly allocated into one of two groups.

Subjective global assessment (SGA), anthropometric measurements, electric bioimpedanciometry, measurements of albumin, prealbumin, and transferrin, and evaluation of energy, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids consumption were done to classify the nutritional status at the beginning and at the end of the study.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

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.

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc could be set against what happens without it.

Double-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial.

Two weeks before the beginning of the study all the drugs with a known effect on zinc absorption were withdrawn.

Therapeutic compliance was assessed by measuring plasma zinc levels and by capsule counting.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Dietary Supplements, Kidney Failure, Chronic, Nutritional Status, Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory and Zinc.

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 12 patients.

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.

Its findings take up roughly 7 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (Revista de investigacion clinica; organo del Hospital de Enfermedades de la Nutricion), a journal based in Mexico.

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