The effect of monthly vitamin D supplementation on fractures: a tertiary outcome from the population-based, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled D-Health trial.

What Was Tested

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

Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 5 adults taking part.

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

The researchers randomly assigned (1:1) 21 315 participants to either vitamin D or placebo.

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.

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

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

The researchers ascertained fractures through linkage with administrative datasets.

The main outcome was total fractures.

Additional outcomes were non-vertebral, major osteoporotic (hip, wrist, proximal humerus, and spine), and hip fractures.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Australia, Vitamin D, Vitamins, Cholecalciferol, Hip Fractures and Dietary Supplements.

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 5 adults.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 8 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2023 (The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology), a journal based in England.

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