A randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial with vitamin D3 as an add on treatment to interferon β-1b in patients with multiple sclerosis.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in the context of multiple sclerosis.

EudraCT number 2007-001958-99 and ClinicalTrialsGov number NCT01339676.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 66 patients were involved.

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

1 year, double blind, placebo controlled, randomised study in 66 MS patients.

How the Study Was Run

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

Because people in this Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group a baseline to be compared against.

Secondary outcomes were number of MRI enhancing T1 lesions and new T2 lesions, annual relapse rate, changes in the Expanded Disability Status Scale score, timed 25 foot walk test and timed 10 foot tandem walk tests.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Adjuvants, Immunologic, Brain, Cholecalciferol, Interferon beta-1b, Interferon-beta, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Multiple Sclerosis.

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 66 patients in people with multiple sclerosis.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2012 (Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry), a journal based in England.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, Multiple sclerosis research.