A new technical brief is now available, outlining when and how plasma/serum zinc concentrations should be adjusted for inflammation.
Plasma or serum zinc concentration (PZC) is considered the best available biomarker of population zinc status. However, PZC may be depressed in the presence of inflammation, and in settings with a high burden of infection, this could lead to artificially high estimates of the prevalence of nutritional zinc deficiency.
C-reactive protein (CRP) and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) are two acute phase proteins most commonly assessed to measure inflammation. As part of the Biomarkers Reflecting Inflammation and Nutritional Determinants of Anaemia (BRINDA) project, an analysis was carried out to answer the following questions:
Is there a need to adjust PZC for inflammation to estimate the prevalence of nutritional zinc deficiency in preschool-aged children or women of reproductive age?
Is it necessary to adjust PZC for CRP, AGP or both?
How do the different adjustment approaches compare?
This new technical brief summarises the findings from this analysis. The reader can refer to the full journal article for further information. For more reading about the measurement of plasma or serum zinc concentrations, refer to previous IZiNCG Technical Briefs and Technical Documents, IZiNCG Practical Tips, and the Biomarkers of Nutrition for Development (BOND) - Zinc Review.