Effects of Vitamin D-3 Supplementation During Pregnancy and Lactation on Maternal and Infant Biomarkers of Environmental Enteric Dysfunction, Systemic Inflammation, and Growth: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

What Was Tested

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

This study aimed to examine the effects of maternal vitamin D-3 supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on biomarkers of EED, systemic inflammation, and growth in women living with HIV and their infants in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Why It Was Studied

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is an acquired, subclinical state of intestinal inflammation common in children and adults in low-income and middle-income countries.

Although vitamin D-3 supplementation has purported anti-inflammatory properties, its ability to ameliorate biomarkers of EED remains unclear.

Who Took Part

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

Biomarkers of EED (soluble CD14 and intestinal fatty acid-binding protein), systemic inflammation (C-reactive protein and α1-acid glycoprotein), and growth factors (insulin-like growth factor 1 and fibroblast growth factor 21) were measured via the Micronutrient and Environmental Enteric Dysfunction Assessment Tool.

Comparisons by randomized treatment arm were performed using ordinary least squares regression models with log2-transformed biomarkers.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and placebo-controlled study.

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

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

Anti-flagellin and anti-lipopolysaccharide immunoglobulins were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

What Was Measured

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is an acquired, subclinical state of intestinal inflammation common in children and adults in low-income and middle-income countries.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Biomarkers, C-Reactive Protein, Child Development, Cholecalciferol, Dietary Supplements, HIV Infections and Inflammation.

Author keywords: environmental enteric dysfunction, growth hormone resistance, infants, pregnancy, supplementation and vitamin D.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized 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 2024 (The Journal of nutrition), a journal based in United States.

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