Serum metal levels in a population of Spanish pregnant women

Abstract

Objective: To describe serum levels of calcium, copper, selenium, magnesium, iron and zinc and evaluate their relationship with maternal socio-demographic characteristics and dietary variables in women in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Method: Cross-sectional study with 1279 participants from the INMA cohorts.

Results: The concentrations of the elements analyzed were within the normal range. Associations with higher levels of these metals were found for calcium with white meat intake (p=0.026), for copper with excess body weight (p <0.01), low social class (p=0.03) and being multipara (p <0.01), for magnesium with being over 35 years old (p=0.001), high social class (p=0.044), primiparous status (p=0.002) and low daily intake of bread (p=0.009) and legumes (p=0.020); for zinc with university education (p=0.039) and residence in Gipuzkoa (p <0.01), and for selenium with residence in Valencia (p <0.01), university education (p=0.001), vitamin B₆ supplementation (p=0.006), fish intake (> 71g/day) (p=0.014) and having been born in Spain (p=0.001). Further, lower iron levels were associated with being overweight (p=0.021) or obese (p <0.001) and vitamin B₁₂ supplementation (p=0.006).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that trace elements in the analyzed cohorts are adequate for this stage of pregnancy. The variability in these elements is mainly linked to socio-demographic and anthropometric variables.

Keywords: Embarazo; Oligoelementos; Pregnancy; Serum; Suero; Trace elements.