Randomized, controlled clinical trial of zinc supplementation to prevent immunological failure in HIV-infected adults.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 15 men were involved.

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

Questionnaires, pill counts, and plasma zinc and C-reactive protein levels were used to monitor adherence to study supplements and antiretroviral therapy.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and placebo-controlled 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.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc could be set against what happens without it.

The primary end point was immunological failure.

HIV viral load and CD4(+) cell count were determined every 6 months.

Intent-to-treat analysis used multiple-event analysis, treating CD4(+) cell count <200 cells/mm(3) as a recurrent immunological failure event.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Dietary Supplements, Disease Progression, HIV Infections, Immune System Diseases, Viral Load and Zinc.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 15 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.

Its findings take up roughly 6 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 (Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America), a journal based in United States.

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