A randomized controlled double-blind investigation of the effects of vitamin D dietary supplementation in subjects with atopic dermatitis.

What Was Tested

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

To determine if AD severity correlates with baseline vitamin D levels, and to test whether supplementation with oral vitamin D alters AMP production in AD skin.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 30 subjects were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

This was a multi-centre, placebo-controlled, double-blind study in 30 subjects with AD, 30 non-atopic subjects, and 16 subjects with psoriasis.

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the subjects nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

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

At baseline and day 21, levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD), cathelicidin, HBD-3, IL-13, and Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) and Rajka-Langeland scores were obtained.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Cholecalciferol, Dermatitis, Atopic, Dietary Supplements, Vitamin D and Vitamins.

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 30 subjects.

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 2014 (Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV), a journal based in England.

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