Zinc, vitamin A, and glutamine supplementation in Brazilian shantytown children at risk for diarrhea results in sex-specific improvements in verbal learning.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in this randomized controlled trial publication.

To identify the impact of supplemental zinc, vitamin A, and glutamine, alone or in combination, on long-term cognitive outcomes among Brazilian shantytown children with low median height-for-age z-scores.

Who Took Part

The study group was 167 children.

PubMed indexes the participants as young children, children and teenagers, both men and women.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in children aged three months to nine years old from the urban shanty compound community of Fortaleza, Brazil.

The random treatment groups available for cognitive testing (total of 167 children) were: (1) placebo, n = 25; (2) glutamine, n = 23; (3) zinc, n = 18; (4) vitamin A, n = 19; (5) glutamine+zinc, n = 20; (6) glutamine+vitamin A, n = 21; (7) zinc+vitamin A, n = 23; and (8) glutamine+zinc+vitamin A, n = 18.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind 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.

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

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

Demographic and anthropometric information was assessed.

Neuropsychological tests were administered for the cognitive domains of non-verbal intelligence and abstraction, psychomotor speed, verbal memory and recall ability, and semantic and phonetic verbal fluency.

Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 16.0.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Brazil, Cognition, Diarrhea, Dietary Supplements, Glutamine, Neuropsychological Tests and Poverty Areas.

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 167 children.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2013 (Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil)), a journal based in United States.

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