Skeletal and hormonal responses to vitamin D supplementation during sunlight deprivation in Antarctic expeditioners.

What Was Tested

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

Antarctic expeditioners are exposed to prolonged sunlight deprivation resulting in vitamin D deficiency.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 110 adults taking part.

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

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and double-blind 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.

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Serum 25(OH)D, PTH, osteocalcin, CTx and calcium were assessed at baseline, mid- and end of expedition.

Proximal femur and lumbar spine BMD were assessed pre- and post-expedition.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Antarctic Regions, Calcium, Dietary Supplements, Expeditions, Femur, Lumbar Vertebrae and Osteocalcin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 110 adults.

Results are reported in around 7 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2012 (Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA), a journal based in England.

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