The effect of vitamin D on the severity of dysmenorrhea and menstrual blood loss: a randomized clinical trial.

What Was Tested

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

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D on the severity of dysmenorrhea and menstrual blood loss.

Why It Was Studied

Primary dysmenorrhea is considered as one of the women's main problems during reproductive age.

This trial was registered in the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials with code IRCT201305212324N on 18/1/2014.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, young adults and adults, women only.

Students with primary dysmenorrhea and vitamin D deficiency were divided into experimental (n = 42) and control (n = 42) groups.

The effects of the supplement on the severity of dysmenorrhea and menstrual blood loss were evaluated one cycle before and during two successive cycles.

How the Study Was Run

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

Some participants received a placebo instead of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, giving a reference point.

This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, was performed on 84 single female college students between 18 and 25 years old who living in dormitories.

Using the visual analog scale (VAS), verbal multidimensional scoring system (VMS), and pictorial blood assessment chart (PBLAC) questionnaires.

Fisher's exact, Chi-square, independent sample t-test and repeated measurements were used.

What Was Measured

Primary dysmenorrhea is considered as one of the women's main problems during reproductive age.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Dysmenorrhea, Menstruation, Vitamin D, Iran, Mefenamic Acid and Hemorrhage.

Author keywords: Menstrual blood loss, Primary dysmenorrhea and University students.

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 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2023 (BMC women's health), a journal based in England.

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