The Impact of Serum Zinc Levels on Abdominal Fat Mass in Hemodialysis Patients

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 656
• Main Authors: Fukasawa, Hirotaka, Niwa, Hiroki, Ishibuchi, Kento, Kaneko, Mai, Iwakura, Takamasa, Yasuda, Hideo, Furuya, Ryuichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.02.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Abdomen; Abdominal Fat - anatomy & histology; Age; Aged; Body fat; Body mass index; Cholesterol; Comorbidity; Computed tomography; Diabetes; Dialysate; Dietary intake; Female; Gender differences; Hemodialysis; Humans; Intra-Abdominal Fat - anatomy & histology; Kidney diseases; Liver diseases; Low density lipoprotein; Malabsorption; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Muscles; Nutrient deficiency; Nutritional status; Organ Size; Patients; Regression Analysis; Renal Dialysis; Software; subcutaneous fat; Subcutaneous Fat - anatomy & histology; Tomography; visceral fat; Womens health; Zinc; Zinc - blood; Japan; subcutaneous fat; Hemodialysis; visceral fat; zinc
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu12030656

Zinc deficiency is highly prevalent and is caused by inadequate dietary intake, malabsorption and removal by treatment in hemodialysis patients. This study investigated the relationship between serum zinc levels and nutritional status in hemodialysis patients. A cross-sectional study examining 87 hemodialysis patients was performed. The serum concentrations of zinc were studied to evaluate their association with nutritional status, which was assessed by measuring abdominal muscle and fat areas with computed tomography. Serum zinc levels were significantly and positively correlated with subcutaneous and visceral fat areas ( = 0.299, < 0.01, and = 0.298, < 0.01, respectively), but not abdominal muscle areas. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that serum zinc levels were a significant independent predictor of visceral fat areas ( < 0.01), but not subcutaneous fat areas ( = 0.631). Our findings suggest that serum zinc levels could play a crucial role in determining abdominal fat mass in hemodialysis patients.