Zinc nutrition of preschool children in the Denver Head Start program

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Abstract
Low income diets provide relatively little zinc. This study was designed to evaluate the zinc nutritional status of 74 low income preschool children enrolled in the Denver Head Start Program. Zinc is necessary for normal growth, hence children were selected on the basis of low height percentiles. The mean (± SE) hair zinc concentration was 87.0 ± 5.9 µg/g, and the mean plasma zinc concentration was 74.5 ± 1.5 µg/100 ml. These levels were both lower (P < 0.005) than those of middle income children of similar age. Sixty-eight percent of the study group had a hair zinc concentration < 70 µg/g and/or a plasma zinc concentration < 68 µg/100 ml. These results indicate that inadequate zinc nutrition may be common among preschool children with low growth percentiles from low income families.

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