Effects of zinc, vitamin D, and their co-supplementation on mood, serum cortisol, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with obesity and mild to moderate depressive symptoms: A phase II, 12-wk, 2 × 2 factorial design, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of zinc, vitamin D, and their co-supplementation versus placebo on changes in the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) score, serum cortisol level, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in obese/overweight patients with depressive symptoms.

Who Took Part

The study group was 140 participants.

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

This 2 × 2 factorial, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with obese/overweight patients with depressive symptoms was conducted in the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center (EMRC), Vali-Asr, Emam Khomeini Hospital between July 2016 and February 2017.

There were 140 randomized participants who were obese or overweight (mean ± SD, 38.35± 6.70 y of age; mean ± SD body mass index, 30.1 ± 3.78 kg/m2) with BDI ≥ 10.

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

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

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc could be set against what happens without it.

The intervention period was 12 wk.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Affect, Body Mass Index, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Depression, Dietary Supplements, Hydrocortisone and Obesity.

Author keywords: BDNF and Cortisol.

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 140 participants.

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 2020 (Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.)), a journal based in United States.

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