Impact of zinc supplementation on mental and psychomotor scores of children aged 12 to 18 months: a randomized, double-blind trial.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, published as a randomized controlled trial.

To evaluate the effect of zinc supplementation on mental and psychomotor scores in children aged 12 to 18 months.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 10 infants taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are infants, both men and women.

Bayley Scales of Infant Development II were used for development assessment in the 12- to 18-month subgroup at enrollment and the end of the study.

How the Study Was Run

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

The infants were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the infants and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

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

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Dietary Supplements, Intelligence Tests, Psychomotor Performance 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 10 infants.

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 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2005 (The Journal of pediatrics), a journal based in United States.

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