Effect of cholecalciferol on vitamin D-regulatory proteins in monocytes and on inflammatory markers in dialysis patients: A randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

Hypovitaminosis D and inflammation are highly prevalent among patients undergoing dialysis, and the association of both conditions with worse survival has been well recognized.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the restoration of the vitamin D status on the expression of vitamin D-regulatory proteins in monocytes and on circulating inflammatory markers in dialysis patients.

Who Took Part

The study group was 38 patients.

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

How the Study Was Run

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

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

Neither the patients 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.

The expression of vitamin D receptor (VDR), CYP27B1, CYP24A1 and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in monocytes was determined by flow cytometry.

Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured.

The trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT01974245.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 1-alpha-Hydroxylase, Biomarkers, Brazil, C-Reactive Protein, Cholecalciferol, Inflammation and Interleukin-6.

Author keywords: Chronic kidney disease and Dialysis.

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 38 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

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 2016 (Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)), a journal based in England.

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