Short-term oral zinc supplementation does not improve chronic hepatic encephalopathy. Results of a double-blind crossover trial.

What Was Tested

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

Following a two-week washout period, these were crossed over to the alternate treatment.

Conn's index, which comprises the evaluation of the mental state, asterixis, number connection test, EEG record, and plasma ammonia, was used to score the degree of hepatic encephalopathy, both at the beginning and end of each treatment period.

Who Took Part

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

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

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.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

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

Each person switched between Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

Conn's index, which comprises the evaluation of the mental state, asterixis, number connection test, EEG record, and plasma ammonia, was used to score the degree of hepatic encephalopathy, both at the beginning and end of each treatment period.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Hepatic Encephalopathy, Liver Cirrhosis, Sulfates, Zinc and Zinc Sulfate.

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 1991 (Digestive diseases and sciences), a journal based in United States.

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