Vitamin D supplementation may improve back pain disability in vitamin D deficient and overweight or obese adults.

What Was Tested

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

Back pain is currently the greatest cause of disability worldwide, and there are very limited therapeutic options available.

Vitamin D deficiency and obesity are both risk factors for back pain.

Who Took Part

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

Fifty-four participants completed the study, of which 49 had complete data for back pain and were included in the present analyses (31 M/18 F; mean ± SD age: 31.8 ± 8.9 years; BMI: 31.1 ± 4.5 kg/m2).

How the Study Was Run

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

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

What Was Measured

Back pain is currently the greatest cause of disability worldwide, and there are very limited therapeutic options available.

The researchers measured 25(OH)D concentrations (chemiluminescent immunoassays) and self-reported back pain (Chronic Pain Grade Questionnaire) before and after the intervention.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Back Pain, Body Mass Index, Calcium-Regulating Hormones and Agents, Cholecalciferol, Obesity, Surveys and Questionnaires and Vitamin D.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Overweight and obesity and Randomised controlled trial.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The publication is from 2019 (The Journal of steroid biochemistry and molecular biology), a journal based in England.

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