Effects of a long-term vitamin D and calcium supplementation on falls and parameters of muscle function in community-dwelling older individuals.

What Was Tested

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

Randomized controlled trials using falls as primary outcome are needed.

The researchers investigated long-term effects of calcium and vitamin D on falls and parameters of muscle function in community-dwelling elderly women and men.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 242 individuals taking part.

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

Their study population consisted of 242 individuals recruited by advertisements and mailing lists (mean [ +/- SD] age, 77 +/- 4 years).

Falls were documented using diaries.

How the Study Was Run

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

The study took place in Bad Pyrmont, Germany (latitude 52 degrees ) and Graz, Austria (latitude 46 degrees ).

What Was Measured

Randomized controlled trials using falls as primary outcome are needed.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Accidental Falls, Austria, Calcium, Fractures, Bone, Germany, Muscles and Proportional Hazards Models.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 242 individuals.

Its findings take up roughly 3 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2009 (Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA), a journal based in England.

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