Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 and Magnesium Oxide in Children with Functional Chronic Constipation: A Double-Blind and Randomized Clinical Trial.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Chronic functional constipation is a frequent condition.

Who Took Part

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

A prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, and parallel-group trial was conducted in five pediatric outpatient clinics in Japan.

Sixty patients who were more than six months old and under six years of age with a diagnosis of functional constipation according to Rome IV criteria were randomly divided into three groups: group A (n = 20) received L. reuteri DSM 17938 and lactose hydrate as a placebo of MgO; group B (n = 19) received L. reuteri DSM 17938 and MgO; and group C (n = 21) received a placebo of L. reuteri DSM 17938 and MgO.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study.

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.

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

Groups ran in parallel: each of the participants stayed in one arm throughout.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Antacids, Chronic Disease, Constipation, Limosilactobacillus reuteri, Magnesium Oxide and Probiotics.

Author keywords: Bristol stool scale, Dialister, functional gastrointestinal disorder and microbiome.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2020 (Nutrients), a journal based in Switzerland.

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