Evaluation of Zinc Intake on Essential Fatty Acid Metabolism

This research is a dietary intervention study designed to evaluate the effect of progressive changes in Zn intake on fatty acid metabolism and to correlate those changes with biomarkers of dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. The main objective is to validate plasma fatty acid metabolism as a biomarker of inadequate Zn intake in subjects consuming identical diets with specific Zn content. The relative sensitivity of some fatty acid enzyme activities will also be compared to the DNA strand breaks. In addition to the primary objectives, correlations in enzyme activity with changes in fat metabolism, namely circulating triglyceride and cholesterol, will be determined. This will enable the determination of the effect of a low Zn intake on various aspects of dyslipidemia. Similar correlational analyses will be performed with clinical measures of inflammation and insulin resistance.

Inclusion criteria

• willing to limit food and beverage intake to that provided by the study
• willing to discontinue consumption of alcoholic beverages during the study
• willing to stop zinc supplementation 4 weeks prior to start of the study
• has an operative understanding of English
• no plans to move from the area during the study period

Exclusion criteria

• Chronic or acute metabolic disease
• smoker or user of nicotine products
• history of alcohol abuse, or use of illicit drugs.
• Is underweight or overweight, body mass index (BMI) < 18 or > 30 kg/m2.