Effect of short-term vitamin D supplementation on markers of vascular health in South Asian women living in the UK--a randomised controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

Low vitamin D levels and risk factors for vascular disease are both common in South Asian women.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

How the Study Was Run

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

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

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.

Parallel-group, double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial.

Outcomes were measured at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks.

The primary outcome was change in endothelial function measured using brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation.

Secondary outcomes included blood pressure, arterial stiffness, microvascular function measured using laser Doppler iontophoresis, insulin resistance, serum lipids, circulating markers of inflammation, thrombosis and adipokines.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Asia, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, Dietary Supplements, Endothelium, Vascular, Inflammation and Insulin Resistance.

Author keywords: Arterial stiffness, Endothelial function, Randomised controlled trial 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.

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 (Atherosclerosis), a journal based in Ireland.

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