title: Serum extracellular superoxide dismutase activity as an indicator of zinc status in humans.
abstract: The present study focused on whether serum extracellular superoxide dimutase (EC-SOD) activity can be used as a functional indicator of marginal zinc deficiency in humans. Subjects in this study were 444 healthy adults over 30 yr of age living a normal rural life in Kyunggi province, Korea. The mean dietary zinc intake of subjects obtained from one 24-h recall was 6.41 +/- 4.35 mg and the average serum zinc concentration of the subjects was 11.06 +/- 2.44 micromol/L. Subjects were divided into three groups by serum zinc concentrations: adequate (serum zinc >10.7 micromol/L), low (serum zinc 9.0-10.7 micromol/L), and very low (serum zinc <9.0 micromol/L) groups. A total of 50 subjects were selected from the three groups for analysis of EC-SOD activities. The EC-SOD activity of subjects increased with increasing serum zinc concentrations, and the activities of the three groups were significantly different as indicated by the Kruskal-Wallis test (p = 0.0239). Also, serum EC-SOD activities were significantly correlated with serum zinc concentrations (r = 0.289, p = 0.04). Serum EC-SOD activities, however, were not significantly correlated to the dietary zinc intakes. In conclusion, these results show that EC-SOD activities are decreased in subjects with low serum zinc concentrations and suggest that EC-SOD activity may be a functional indicator of zinc nutritional status in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Korea.
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Joung
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Keen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012424:Rural Population; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000097:blood*; D015032:Zinc / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D015032:Zinc