The influence of inflammation on plasma zinc concentration in apparently healthy, HIV+ Kenyan adults and zinc responses after a multi-micronutrient supplement.

What Was Tested

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

Plasma zinc is an important biomarker of zinc status, but the concentration is depressed by inflammation.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 10 men taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, both men and women.

The researchers used the inflammation biomarkers, C-reactive protein (CRP) and alpha1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), to identify subjects with and without inflammation and determine the effect of inflammation on the response of plasma zinc concentrations to the MN and food supplements.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized.

The men were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Analysis of Variance, Biomarkers, C-Reactive Protein, Deficiency Diseases, Dietary Supplements, HIV and HIV Seropositivity.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and Copper (Supplement) in 10 men.

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 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2010 (European journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in England.

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