The effect of vitamin D supplementation on lower-extremity power and function in older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

The researchers aimed to test the effect of 12 mo of vitamin D supplementation on lower-extremity power and function in older community-dwelling adults screened for low serum 25(OH)D.

Why It Was Studied

The effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle function in older adults has been tested in randomized trials with mixed results, which may be due to differences in the study participant characteristics, including baseline vitamin D status.

Who Took Part

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

This was a single-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial that included 100 community-dwelling men and women ≥60 y old who had serum 25(OH)D ≤20 ng/mL at screening and a mean ± SD serum 25(OH)D of 20.2 ± 6.7 ng/mL at baseline.

How the Study Was Run

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

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

The effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle function in older adults has been tested in randomized trials with mixed results, which may be due to differences in the study participant characteristics, including baseline vitamin D status.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Body Composition, Cholecalciferol, Dietary Supplements, Lower Extremity, Muscle Strength, Muscle, Skeletal 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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 4 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2019 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

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