Safety and efficacy of zinc supplementation for children with HIV-1 infection in South Africa: a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

The researchers aimed to assess the role of zinc in HIV-1 replication before mass zinc supplementation is recommended in regions of high HIV-1 prevalence.

Why It Was Studied

However, in children with HIV-1 infection, the safety of zinc supplementation is uncertain.

Programmes to enhance zinc intake in deficient populations with a high prevalence of HIV-1 infection can be implemented without concern for adverse effects on HIV-1 replication.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 96 children taking part.

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

Baseline measurements of plasma HIV-1 viral load and the percentage of CD4+ T lymphocytes were established at two study visits before randomisation, and measurements were repeated 3, 6, and 9 months after the start of supplementation.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The children 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 children and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

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

The primary outcome measure was plasma HIV-1 viral load.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Diarrhea, HIV Infections, HIV-1, South Africa, Viral Load 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 96 children.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2005 (Lancet (London, England)), a journal based in England.

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