A parallel group double-blind RCT of vitamin D3 assessing physical function: is the biochemical response to treatment affected by overweight and obesity?

What Was Tested

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

This study aimed to test the supplementation effects of vitamin D3 on physical function and examine associations between overweight/obesity and the biochemical response to treatment.

Why It Was Studied

Vitamin D may affect skeletal muscle function.

Who Took Part

The study group was 97, participants.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults and older adults, women only.

Participants and researchers were blinded throughout intervention and analysis.

How the Study Was Run

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

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.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, giving a reference point.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the participants stayed in one arm throughout.

Grip strength (primary outcome), falls, diet, physical activity and ultraviolet B radiation exposure were measured bimonthly, as were serum 25(OH)D, adjusted calcium (ACa) and phosphate.

Fat/lean mass (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry), anthropometry, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone were measured at baseline and 12 months.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Accidental Falls, Anthropometry, Body Composition, Body Mass Index, Calcium, Cholecalciferol and Diet.

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 97, participants.

Results are reported in around 4 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2014 (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.