Association between plasma zinc concentration and zinc kinetic parameters in premenopausal women

• Published in: American journal of physiology: endocrinology and metabolism Vol. 285; no. 5; pp. E1010 - E1020
• Main Authors: Yokoi, Katsuhiko, Egger, Norman G, Ramanujam, V. M. Sadagopa, Alcock, Nancy W, Dayal, Hari H, Penland, James G, Sandstead, Harold H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.11.2003
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Animals; Cattle; Chorda Tympani Nerve - physiology; Diet; Edible Grain; Electric Stimulation; Erythropoiesis; Female; Ferritins - blood; Glossopharyngeal Nerve - physiology; Hair - chemistry; Humans; Iron - deficiency; Mathematics; Meat; Models, Biological; Nutritional Status; Premenopause; Taste; Taste Threshold - physiology; Zinc - analysis; Zinc - blood; Zinc - pharmacokinetics
• ISSN: 0193-1849; 1522-1555
• DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00533.2002

1 Department of Human Nutrition, Seitoku University Graduate School, Chiba 271-8555, Japan; 2 Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-1109; and 3 The United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-9034 Submitted 6 December 2002 ; accepted in final form 8 July 2003 The objective of this study was to measure relationships between plasma zinc (Zn) concentrations and Zn kinetic parameters and to measure relationships of Zn status with taste acuity, food frequency, and hair Zn in humans. The subjects were 33 premenopausal women not taking oral contraceptives and dietary supplements containing iron and Zn. Main outcomes were plasma Zn concentrations, Zn kinetic parameters based on the three-compartment mammillary model using 67 Zn as a tracer, electrical taste detection thresholds, and food frequencies. Lower plasma Zn was significantly ( P < 0.01) associated with smaller sizes of the central and the lesser peripheral Zn pools, faster disappearance of tracer from plasma, and higher transfer rate constants from the lesser peripheral pool to the central pool and from the central pool to the greater peripheral pool. The break points in the plasma Zn-Zn kinetics relationship were found between 9.94 and 11.5 µmol/l plasma Zn. Smaller size of the lesser peripheral pool was associated with lower frequency of beef consumption and higher frequency of bran breakfast cereal consumption. Hypozincemic women with plasma Zn <10.7 µmol/l or 700 ng/ml had decreased thresholds of electrical stimulation for gustatory nerves. Our results based on Zn kinetics support the conventional cutoff value of plasma Zn (10.7 µmol/l or 700 ng/ml) between normal and low Zn status. iron; electrical taste threshold; exchangeable zinc pool; inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry; zinc-67 stable isotope Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: K. Yokoi, Dept. of Human Nutrition, Seitoku Univ. Graduate School, Matsudo, Chiba 271-8555, Japan (E-mail: yokoi{at}seitoku.ac.jp ).