Role and effects of zinc supplementation in HIV-infected patients with immunovirological discordance: A randomized, double blind, case control study.

What Was Tested

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

Secondary objectives were to determine serum zinc levels in HIV patients with and without IVD and the frequency of hypozincemia in discordant patients.

Why It Was Studied

In the literature this phenomenom is known as poor immune recovery or immunovirological discordance (IVD).

Who Took Part

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

The researchers reviewed the historical record of patients under care at Arriarán Foundation.

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.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

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

In both groups plasma zinc levels were determined.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Case-Control Studies, Dietary Supplements, HIV Infections, HIV-1 and Nutritional Status.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

Its findings take up roughly 7 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2021 (PloS one), a journal based in United States.

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