A randomised controlled trial of vitamin D and omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the treatment of irritability and hyperactivity among children with autism spectrum disorder.

What Was Tested

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

Irritability and hyperactivity are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The primary outcomes were the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist (ABC) domains of irritability and hyperactivity.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 111 children taking part.

The age groups tagged for this paper are young children and children, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

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

Because people in this Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the children and researchers unaware of who received Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

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

Biomarkers (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and omega-3 index) and primary outcomes were measured at baseline and 12-months.

What Was Measured

The primary outcomes were the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist (ABC) domains of irritability and hyperactivity.

The subject headings attached to it are Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Irritable Mood, Vitamin D and Vitamins.

Author keywords: Children, Hyperactivity and Irritability.

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 111 children.

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.