Bioavailability of vitamin D(2) and D(3) in healthy volunteers, a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

The study was conducted during the winter of 2012 in Halle (Saale), Germany, at latitude 51°47N, when UVB irradiation is virtually absent.

Why It Was Studied

The bioequivalence of the different forms of vitamin D, ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and cholecalciferol (vitamin D3), has been questioned.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group 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.

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

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

The Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are 25-Hydroxyvitamin D 2, Biological Availability, Calcifediol, Cholecalciferol, Ergocalciferols, Healthy Volunteers 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.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2013 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

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