Vitamin D insufficiency prior to bariatric surgery: risk factors and a pilot treatment study.

What Was Tested

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

To assess vitamin D status and the influences of race, sun exposure and dietary vitamin D intake on vitamin D levels, and to evaluate two vitamin D repletion regimens in extremely obese patients awaiting bariatric surgery.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 27 subjects taking part.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, men only.

A cross-sectional analysis of dietary vitamin D, sun exposure, PTH [intact (iPTH) and PTH(1-84)] and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD; differentiated 25OHD2 and 25OHD3) in 56 obese [body mass index (BMI) > 35 kg/m(2)] men and women (age 20-64 years).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and pilot 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.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study would be practical.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Bariatric Surgery, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Cholecalciferol, Cross-Sectional Studies, Ergocalciferols, Obesity and Pilot Projects.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and pilot study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 27 subjects.

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.

Its findings take up roughly 8 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 (Clinical endocrinology), a journal based in England.

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