Oral magnesium supplementation in asthmatic children: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

To investigate the long-term effect of oral magnesium supplementation on clinical symptoms, bronchial reactivity, lung function and allergen-induced skin responses in children and adolescents with moderate persistent asthma.

Who Took Part

The study group was 72 patients.

PubMed indexes the participants as children, teenagers and adults, both men and women.

The patients were recruited from the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic, Division of Pulmonology, Allergy and Immunology, and followed at the Center for Investigation in Pediatrics at State University of Campinas Hospital, Brazil.

Thirty-seven out of 72 patients met the study criteria.

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

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

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

Groups ran in parallel: each of the patients stayed in one arm throughout.

A double-blind randomized parallel placebo-controlled study.

The primary outcome was bronchial reactivity evaluated with methacholine challenge test (PC20).

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Albuterol, Androstadienes, Asthma, Brazil, Bronchodilator Agents, Dietary Supplements and Fluticasone.

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 72 patients.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2007 (European journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in England.

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