Investigation of the effect of short-term change in dietary magnesium intake in asthma.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Magnesium, published as a randomized controlled trial.

This study was designed to investigate whether short-term alterations of dietary magnesium intake have an effect on the clinical control of asthma.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 17 subjects were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

The subjects were allocated by chance, so the Magnesium group and the comparison group should start out alike.

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

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

Each person switched between Magnesium and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Asthma, Confidence Intervals, Dietary Supplements, Magnesium and Respiratory Function Tests.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Magnesium in 17 subjects.

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.

The publication is from 1997 (The European respiratory journal), a journal based in England.

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