title: Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis for evaluating zinc supplementation in prepubertal and healthy children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of abnormal nutritional status has increased in children and adolescents. Nutritional assessment is important for monitoring the health and nutritional status. Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) combines changes in tissue hydration and structure and body composition that can be assessed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to use BIVA to evaluate nutritional status in 60 prepubertal children, aged between 8 and 9 years, supplemented with zinc, to detect possible changes in body composition.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a randomized, controlled, triple-blind study. The children were divided into the control group (CG; sorbitol 10%, n=29) or the experimental group (EG; 10 mg Zn/day, n=31), and the duration of the experiment was 3 months. Anthropometric assessments were performed for all of the children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The body mass index-for-age increased after oral zinc supplementation in the EG (p=0.005). BIVA indicated that the CG demonstrated a tendency for dehydration and decreased soft tissue and the EG demonstrated a tendency for increased soft tissue, primarily the fat-free mass. After analyses of BIVA ellipses, we observed that this method could detect improvements in body composition in healthy children supplemented with zinc.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that BIVA could be an auxiliary method for studying a small population undergoing zinc intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Márcia Marília Gomes
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Dantas
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Érika Dantas Medeiros
authors.initials: ÉD
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Naira Josele Neves
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Brito
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Camila Xavier
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mardone Cavalcante
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: França
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analyses, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: das Graças Almeida
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil; jbn@pq.cnpq.br.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brandão-Neto
keywords: bioelectrical impedance vector analysis; body composition; children; zinc supplementation