Taste acuity in response to zinc supplementation in older Europeans.

What Was Tested

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

Taste acuity declines with age and may be dependent upon Zn status.

A signal detection theory approach was adopted for taste assessment.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

Healthy older European adults aged 70-87 years were recruited within Italy (Rome) (n 108) and France (Grenoble) (n 91) to the European Commission-funded Zenith project.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled 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.

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

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

What Was Measured

A signal detection theory approach was adopted for taste assessment.

The data were converted to R indices and analysed by repeated-measures ANOVA controlling for baseline taste acuity as well as serum and erythrocyte Zn.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Analysis of Variance, Dietary Supplements, Erythrocytes, France, Rome, Sodium Chloride and Taste Threshold.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The publication is from 2008 (The British journal of nutrition), a journal based in England.

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