Calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and joint symptoms in postmenopausal women in the women's health initiative randomized trial.

What Was Tested

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

To evaluate the influence of supplemental calcium and vitamin D on joint symptoms in the Women's Health Initiative randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial.

Logistic regression models were used to compare the occurrence and severity of joint symptoms across randomization groups.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 36,282 women were involved.

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

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

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.

Neither the women 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.

Qualitative information on joint pain and joint swelling was collected by questionnaire before entry and 2 years after randomization.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Arthralgia, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium, Dietary, Cholecalciferol, Diet, Dietary Supplements and Joints.

Author keywords: Joint symptoms and Vitamin D.

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 36,282 women.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2013 (Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics), a journal based in United States.

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