Zinc status of women with low bone mineral density who receive calcium supplements.
We evaluated whether a daily high-dose calcium supplement perturbs the zinc status in 23 postmenopausal women (mean age: 63 yr) with low bone mineral density. Plasma and erythrocyte zinc concentrations, plasma bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) and 5'-nucleotidase activities, and urinary zinc and calcium excretion were determined first at the end of 4 wk of daily oral calcium (1200 mg) and were measured again at the end of the subsequent 4 wk of daily cosupplementation with calcium (1200 mg) and zinc (30 mg). Mean plasma and erythrocyte zinc concentrations after 4 wk of calcium alone were not significantly different from concentrations after cosupplementation of calcium and zinc. Mean plasma BSAP activities before cosupplementation with zinc was significantly higher than that after zinc (p < 0.02), whereas plasma 5'-nucleotidase activities were not affected by zinc supplementation. Urinary zinc excretion slightly, but significantly, increased after the supplementation of zinc (p < 0.05), whereas calcium excretion remained similar. Our data indicate that a 4-wk zinc supplementation did not significantly improve zinc status. Although limited by the small sample size and short study duration, our data suggest that a daily calcium dose of 1200 mg had no effect on the zinc status of our subjects.
Morgan
Sarah L
SL
Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Strong
Debbie C
DC
Kitchin
Elizabeth M
EM
Johnston
Kelley E
KE
Disilvestro
Robert A
RA
Tamura
Tsunenobu
T
D015720:5'-Nucleotidase / Q000097:blood; D000368:Aged; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000097:blood; D015519:Bone Density; D002118:Calcium / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine
D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase; D015720:5'-Nucleotidase; D015032:Zinc; D002118:Calcium