Effect of compared with vitamin D on cognitive performance among adults age 60 years and older: a randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

Findings on the effects of vitamin D on cognitive performance have been inconsistent and no clinical trials with detailed cognitive testing in healthy older adults have been reported.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

A total of 273 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥60 y were enrolled 6-8 wk after unilateral joint replacement.

Inclusion required a baseline Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 24.

How the Study Was Run

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

The researchers analyzed data on cognitive performance as the secondary outcome of a 2-y double-blind randomized controlled trial that originally investigated the effect of vitamin D3 on knee function and pain in seniors with osteoarthritis.

Capsules had identical appearances and taste.

The researchers implemented a detailed 2-h cognitive test battery.

The primary cognitive endpoint was the score achieved in the MMSE.

Secondary endpoints included a composite score of 7 executive function tests, auditory verbal and visual design learning tests, and reaction times.

What Was Measured

Findings on the effects of vitamin D on cognitive performance have been inconsistent and no clinical trials with detailed cognitive testing in healthy older adults have been reported.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Cholecalciferol, Cognition, Dietary Supplements, Memory, Osteoarthritis, Knee, Pain and Reaction Time.

The authors tagged it with the keywords MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination, RCT, adults age 60+, cognitive function and executive function.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

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.