Treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis patients with vitamin D: a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is defined by liver inflammation and consecutive fibrotic damage caused by a deposition of fat in the liver.

No licensed medical treatments exist and lifestyle modification is difficult to incorporate into everyday life.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

The primary endpoint of this study was the change in ALT from baseline to the end-of-treatment.

How the Study Was Run

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

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.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study would be practical.

Steatohepatitis was categorized according to the Steatosis, Activity and Fibrosis Score and disease activity was assessed using the NAFLD activity score.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Alanine Transaminase, Calcifediol, Liver, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Pilot Projects, Switzerland and Vitamin D Deficiency.

The authors tagged it with the keywords NAFLD, NASH and drug therapy.

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 abstract goes on to report its results in about 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2018 (Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology), a journal based in England.

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