Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of postmenopausal weight gain.

What Was Tested

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

The role of calcium in the maintenance of a healthy body weight remains controversial.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 36 women taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults and older adults, women only.

A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial was performed with 36 282 postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79 years, who were already enrolled in the dietary modification and/or hormone therapy arms of the Women's Health Initiative clinical trial.

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.

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

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

Change in body weight was ascertained annually for an average of 7 years.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Bone Density Conservation Agents, Calcium, Dietary, Cholecalciferol, Postmenopause, Vitamins and Weight Gain.

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 36 women.

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.

Results are reported in around 3 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2007 (Archives of internal medicine), a journal based in United States.

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