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OBJECTIVES: To analyse the effect of zinc supplementation in growth and nutritional status of a homogeneous group of newborns with intra uterine growth retardation and asymmetric growth. The effect of changes of zinc status on growth and leptin serum concentrations was also analysed. POPULATION AND METHODS: A double blind, randomised clinical trial was designed in order to detect differences in growth between zinc and placebo groups during the first 6 months of life. 31 infants were included either to the zinc group (n = 14) (38.8+/-1.4 weeks GA, 2,171+/-253 g body weight) or the placebo group (n = 17) (38.9+/-1.1 weeks GA, 2,249+/-220 g body weight). The zinc group received a supplement of 3 mg elemental zinc per day (as zinc sulphate). RESULTS: There were not significant differences between groups for anthropometric measurements through the study period. We found a significant effect of the study group, in hair zinc concentrations, but not in serum zinc concentrations; post-hoc comparisons for hair zinc revealed that there were significant differences between groups at 1, 2, and 6 months of age. Changes in serum and hair zinc concentrations from baseline to 6 months, showed significant correlations with changes in weight/age and length/age z-scores, in the supplement group. Changes in leptin serum concentrations during follow-up, showed significant correlations with changes in sum of 4 skinfolds and weight/age z-score, in the placebo group. Changes in hair zinc concentration through the study period showed significant correlations with changes in leptin serum concentrations from baseline to 6 months of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In a homogeneous group of intra uterine growth retardation infants with asymmetric growth, 3 mg/day zinc supplementation do not show significant improvements in weight and length growth. Changes in zinc status were related with changes in weight and length during the first 6 months of life. Changes in leptin serum concentrations were related with changes in the anthropometric indices of body fat accretion.

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The dietary intake, serum levels, and urinary excretion of magnesium, zinc, and copper were studied in 78 women involved in different sports (karate, handball, basketball, and running) and in 65 sedentary women. Seven-day, weighed-food dietary reports revealed that no group of female athletes reached the minimal intake recommended for magnesium (280 mg/day) and zinc (12 mg/day), although their values were superior to those of the control group. The estimated safe and adequate minimal intake of copper (1.5 mg/day) was amply surpassed by the basketball players and runners but was not reached by the handball players. Serum levels and urinary excretion of magnesium, zinc and copper di not seem related either to their intake or to the type of physical activity performed. The influence of other factors such as nutritional status, bioavailability, intestinal absorption mechanisms, and muscle-level modifications might explain the differences between the different groups of female athletes.

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PURPOSE: To assess in a group of female runners the iron uptake and pharmacological supplementation, plus the variation induced in haematological values and iron deposits. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The total and haeme Fe uptake as well as the blood parameters were studied in a group of 25 female median and long distance runners and in a control group comprised of 82 women with no sport activities. Eleven of the runners had usually been on pharmacologic iron supplementation. All of the subjects completed a diet regimen for 7 days controlled by means of food weighing. RESULTS: Total Fe ingestion was significantly higher in the runners (13.6 mg/day) than in the control group (11.3 mg/day (p < 0.01), although the minimum established by the Diet Recommendations was reached by neither group. The ingestion of haeme-Fe was higher in non-supplemented runners (1.64 mg/day) with regard to those on iron supplementation (1.39 mg/day) and the women of the control group (1.34 mg/day). Serum ferritin levels were also higher in non-supplemented runners (38.1 ng/mL), with lowest values in the runners receiving iron supplement (29.7 ng/mL). CONCLUSIONS: Serum ferritin levels in female runners appear to be related with the ingestion of haeme-Fe rather than with total iron ingestion. On the other hand, the pharmacologic iron supplementation given here appears inadequate for most of the runners studied.

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The iron nutritional status was studied in 84 sportswomen (19 karatekas, 20 handball players, 20 basketball players, and 25 middle and long distance runners) and in 82 nonathletic females of similar characteristics (control group). After a 7-day nutritional survey by means of the food weighing method, it was found that iron intake was significantly higher in the handball players (p < 0.05), basketball players (p < 0.01), and runners (p < 0.01) with regard to the control group; the basketball players were the only ones to cover the recommended minimum intake (15 mg/day). The heme iron intake was significantly greater in the handball and basketball players (p < 0.01), who, together with the runners, reached the value of 1.5 mg/day, which is considered to be optimal. In relation to the control group, the karatekas and handball and basketball players had lower levels of serum ferritin, although their iron intake was greater, whereas the runners had higher values that were very similar to those of the control group, due to the iron supplementation they had received. Despite finding a marked prevalence of inadequate iron intake, both in the sportswomen and in the control group, the manifest cases of anemia are relatively scarce. The organic iron stores do not seem to depend exclusively on the iron intake but also on intimate mechanisms of intestinal absorption and diverse causes of iron loss.

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PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of a regular training programme on some haematological values in a group of young swimmers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group is composed of 32 infantile swimmers (18 boys and 14 girls) and the control group of 12 boys and 11 girls of similar ages, performing no sports. Blood samples were taken at the beginning of training and four months later. Automated blood cell counts were performed in duplicate, along with assessment of the serum levels of iron, ferritin, transferrin and haptoglobin. The statistical study was made by comparison of means (Student's t, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney's U tests). RESULTS: Significant descent of haemoglobin rates (p < 0.05) was found in the swimmers, whereas serum iron was also significantly decreased (p < 0.01). Transferrin and haptoglobin were increased in both sexes (p < 0.01) in the swimmers, while ferritin was increased only in the female swimmers. With regard to the control groups, the boys showed significantly higher levels of ferritin both at the beginning and the end of the test, whereas the girls had lower only at the beginning (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: After a 4-month physical training programme the tissular iron deposits are increased in a population of infantile swimmers, such increase being significant only in females.

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With the purpose of determining the long and short term changes in serum enzyme activities after a marathon race, a survey involving nine healthy male runners was carried out. A basal blood sample was extracted from each 24 hours prior to the race and three further extractions were made immediately after the race, as well as at 1 and a final 24 h after the end of the race. In the enzymes of preferably hepatic origin--alkaline phosphatase (AP), ganna-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT)--scanty modifications were found and these could be related to the changes observed in the plasma volume. Enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), which are widely distributed in the tissues, were found to have undergone more marked variations and these could not be related to the changes in the volume of the plasma, while in enzymes of muscular origin such as aldolase (ALD), creatine kinase (CK) and its cardiac isoenzyme (CK-MB), notable increases were observed due to the muscular injury suffered. The greatest example of this was the increase found in total CK 24 h after the end of the marathon (414.6%). The high serum percentages found in CK-MB in these endurance-trained runners in relation to total CK activity should be carefully assessed in order to avoid false diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

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