Effect of calcifediol and cholecalciferol on muscle function in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial.

What Was Tested

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

Brief rationale: Limited evidence exists on calcifediol's effect on lower extremity function in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults and older adults, women only.

This is a 3-arm double-blind RCT among postmenopausal women aged 50-70 years with serum 25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL, and a DXA-based diagnosis of osteopenia or osteoporosis.

How the Study Was Run

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

Because people in this Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

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 primary endpoint was a composite measure of lower extremity function, assessed at baseline, 3, and 6 months, including four tests: gait speed, knee flexor and extensor strength, and repeated sit-to-stand test.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Cholecalciferol, Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal, Calcifediol, Bone Diseases, Metabolic, Bone Density Conservation Agents, Lower Extremity and Vitamin D Deficiency.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Aging, Middle-aged and older adults, Muscle health, Physical performance and Vitamin D 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.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2025 (Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA), a journal based in England.

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