Abstract
Purpose
Zinc plays an important role in metabolic processes in human organisms and is indispensable in many enzymatic processes. To date, few studies have assessed the association between serum zinc and metabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. The aim of the present study was to examine whether serum zinc concentrations was associated with metabolic risk factors in Chinese children and adolescents.
Methods
This study was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2016-2017 China National Nutrition and Health Surveillance for Children and Nursing in Jiangsu Province. A total of 3241 participants aged 6 -17years were included. Metabolic risk factors included fasting glucose (FG), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Data were analyzed using multivariable linear regression and generalized additive models, which were adjusted for age, gender, high sensitive C-reactive protein, estimated glomerular filtration rate, body mass index and region of residence, to assess the associations of serum zinc concentrations with metabolic risk factors.
Results
We observed a negative association between serum zinc concentrations and FG (coefficient = -0.532; 95% CI: -0.569, -0.495; p< 0.001). Moreover, TC (coefficient = 0.175 ; 95% CI 0.127, 0.222; p< 0.001), HDL-C (coefficient = 0.137 ; 95% CI 0.082, 0.193; p< 0.001) and LDL-C (coefficient = 0.195 ; 95% CI 0.128, 0.263; p< 0.001) were found to be positively associated with zinc levels. A generalized additive model showed that the negative association between serum zinc and FG was weak at lower serum zinc concentrations, and was stronger with the increase in serum zinc concentrations. Additionally, a U-shaped association between serum zinc and TG was observed.
Conclusions
Serum zinc concentrations were associated with FG, TC, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C levels in Chinese children and adolescents. Lower levels of serum zinc were more likely related to a poor metabolic status.
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