Pilot study to evaluate the effect of short-term improvement in vitamin D status on glucose tolerance in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

What Was Tested

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

The unpaired t test was used to compare the groups at baseline and to compare the differences in changes from baseline to 4 weeks between the 2 study groups.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 28 patients were involved.

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

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study was conducted in 28 Asian Indian patients with T2DM.

Study participants were randomly assigned to a vitamin D-treated group (group D) or a placebo group (group P).

How the Study Was Run

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

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.

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

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, hemoglobin A1c, and serum fructosamine levels were measured, and an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in all patients at baseline and 4 weeks after intervention.

During the OGTT, plasma glucose and serum insulin levels were measured at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including 25-Hydroxyvitamin D 2, Asian People, Blood Glucose, Body Mass Index, Calcifediol, Cholecalciferol and Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 28 patients.

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 4 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2010 (Endocrine practice : official journal of the American College of Endocrinology and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists), a journal based in United States.

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