title: Albumin-normalized serum zinc: a clinically useful parameter for detecting taste impairment in patients undergoing dialysis.
abstract: Patients with renal failure often experience decreased serum zinc that remains uncorrected after dialysis. A complication of this depletion is taste impairment, which can detrimentally influence diet and nutrition. However, because more than half of all serum zinc is bound to albumin, we hypothesized that normalizing serum zinc to albumin levels may be associated with taste impairment. A total of 65 patients undergoing dialysis but not receiving supplementary zinc and 120 control patients not undergoing dialysis (60 malnourished patients and 60 healthy controls) were tested for their receptiveness to saltiness using various salt concentrations. Patients' total protein and albumin levels were measured, and linear regressions were extrapolated between serum zinc levels and total protein or albumin. Patients undergoing dialysis had significantly lower levels of total serum zinc compared with control patients. However, uncorrected zinc levels were not correlated with taste impairment. Normalizing zinc levels against total protein or albumin resulted in extrapolated equations that revealed a significant correlation with taste impairment. Our data suggest a statistical correlation between zinc and albumin in both healthy subjects and patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis, or protein-energy malnutrition without hemodialysis, allowing for a quantitative measure for taste impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Applied Nutrition, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan. Electronic address: rtsutsumi@tokushima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Rie
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Kie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuo M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Yousuke T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.affiliation: Kawashima Hospital, Tokushima 770-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Jyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Minakuchi
authors.affiliation: Kawashima Hospital, Tokushima 770-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Sachi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Nagakatsu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakaue
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Applied Nutrition, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute of Health Biosciences, University of Tokushima, Tokushima 770-8503, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakaya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006435:Renal Dialysis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D013651:Taste Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D012709:Serum Albumin; D015032:Zinc
keywords: Albumin; Dialysis; Proteins; Serum zinc depletion; Taste