Resumo

RACHED DE PAOLI, Ingrid; HENRIQUEZ PEREZ, Gladys  e  AZUAJE SANCHEZ, Arelis. Niveles séricos de zinc y su relación con la ingesta de nutrientes en gestantes eutróficas . An Venez Nutr [online]. 2004, vol.17, n.1, pp.5-11. ISSN 0798-0752.

Studies have showed a high prevalence of zinc deficiency in developing countries. In Venezuela, serum zinc concentrations in pregnant women have not been published, posing a research study aiming at the following objectives: to determine the serum zinc concentrations in pregnant women, to analyze the changes of zinc concentrations during pregnancy, and to establish the relation between serum zinc concentrations in the first and third trimesters of pregnancy and the intake of some nutrients. Fifty-one adult, healthy, well-nourished pregnant women were evaluated at "Centro de Atención Nutricional Infantil Antímano" in Caracas, Venezuela. Nutritional assessment was performed on a clinical and anthropometric basis. Each of the pregnant women underwent monthly dietary evaluation, determining the serum zinc concentrations by means of the Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry in the first and third trimesters. The descriptive standards, Student’s t test, and Pearson correlation test were calculated. The mean values of serum zinc were 14.6 ± 2.7 m mol/L y 12.6 ± 2,9 m mol/L in the first and third trimesters respectively. The change of the serum zinc values from the first to the third trimester was significant. There was no significant correlation between serum zinc concentrations in both trimesters and the intake of protein, fiber, folic acid, copper, iron, calcium, and zinc in this study group. In conclusion, the serum zinc concentrations drop during pregnancy, within normal ranges, in well nourished and healthy women. No relation was found between serum zinc concentrations in the first and third trimesters of pregnancy and the intake of such analyzed nutrients.

Palavras-chave : pregnancy; serum zinc; dietary intake; protein; fiber; folic acid; copper; iron; calcium.