Relationship of Serum Zinc Levels with Cardiometabolic Traits in Overweight and Obese Schoolchildren from Mexico City

Abstract

Zinc (Zn) participates as a cofactor for many enzymes in the cellular metabolism, and its serum levels have been associated with different metabolic diseases, especially obesity (OB). Nevertheless, its associations are not clear in the children population. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between serum Zn levels (SZn) with overweight/obesity status (OW/OB), as well as its cardiometabolic traits in a population of children in Mexico City. Anthropometrical data (body mass index z score (BMIz)), demographic variables (age and sex), and cardiometabolic traits (total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc), triglycerides (TG), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and insulin) were analyzed in this cross-sectional study. SZn were measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS). The population included 210 children from Mexico City (girls ( n = 105) and boys ( n = 105)) between ages 6 and 10 years. Normal-weight (NW) schoolchildren had higher SZn concentrations (66 µg/dL; IQR: 48 to 91) compared to OW or OB schoolchildren (61 µg/dL; IQR: 45 to 76). The data showed a significant negative association between SZn and BMIz without sex exclusion ( r = − 0.181 and p = 0.009). The boy’s population did not show an association between the SZn and BMIz compared to the girl’s population which showed a significant negative association ( r = − 0.277 and p = 0.004). In addition, other associations were found between SZn and TC (boys ( r = 0.214 and p = 0.025), LDLc (boys ( r = 0.213 and p = 0.029), and TG (girls ( r = − 0.260 and p = 0.007)). Moreover, 38.6% of the total children in our population study had Zn deficiency (ZnD). NW schoolchildren had higher SZn concentrations compared to OW or OB schoolchildren. A diet low in Zn can be a factor to evaluate in the development of childhood OB in Mexico. However, further studies need to be performed on the children Mexican population to replicate and confirm our findings.