Combined iron and folic acid supplementation with or without zinc reduces time to walking unassisted among Zanzibari infants 5- to 11-mo old.

What Was Tested

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

Attained motor milestone was recorded every 2 wk for 1 y.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 354 children taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were infants.

The effects of these treatments on attaining unassisted walking were evaluated using survival analysis for 354 children aged 5-11 mo at the start of supplementation.

Treatment effects on changes in hemoglobin (Hb) and zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP) and height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ) Z scores were evaluated using linear regression.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was 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.

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

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group a baseline to be compared against.

Hb, ZPP, HAZ, and WAZ were measured at baseline and after 6 mo of treatment.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Dietary Supplements, Folic Acid, Iron Deficiencies, Iron, Dietary, Motor Activity, Tanzania and Walking.

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 354 children.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The publication is from 2006 (The Journal of nutrition), a journal based in United States.

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