Influence of vitamin D supplementation on growth, body composition, pubertal development and spirometry in South African schoolchildren: a randomised controlled trial (ViDiKids).

What Was Tested

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

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02880982, South African National Clinical Trials Register DOH-27-0916-5527.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 1682 children were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are children.

1682 children of black African ancestry attending government primary schools and aged 6-11 years at baseline.

How the Study Was Run

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

The children were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group and the comparison group should start out alike.

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.

Phase 3 double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial.

Socioeconomically disadvantaged peri-urban district of Cape Town, South Africa.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Body Composition, Cholecalciferol, Cholestanes, Dietary Supplements, South Africa, Spirometry and Vitamin D.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Adolescent Health and Growth.

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 1682 children.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

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 2024 (BMJ paediatrics open), a journal based in England.

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