title: The increase in zincaemia provoked by starvation does not influence the intestinal absorption of zinc.
abstract: Serum zinc, measured in obese patients undergoing two weeks of therapeutic starvation (0 kcal, water ad libitum) increased significantly during the starvation period (+48% at day 10) and returned to prestarvation values after refeeding with a 500 kcal diet. Intestinal absorption of zinc was investigated by an oral zinc tolerance test (with 75 mg of zinc acetate) on the second and the tenth day of starvation. No significant differences were observed between the first and the second test. In our experimental conditions 10 days of starvation failed to induce a loss of zinc exceeding 0.75% of the total body stores. It is concluded that the concentration of zinc in blood per se does not regulate intestinal absorption in the absence of a significant change in zinc requirements.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013217:Starvation / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc