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The association between serum zinc level and overweight/obesity: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

The association between serum zinc level and overweight/obesity remains controversial. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis to summarize the relationships.

Methods

A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science and Embase for relevant English articles up to April 20, 2018. The pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated with the random-effect model.

Results

For children and adults, the results showed that serum zinc level was significantly lower in the cases compared to controls ([SMD (95% CI): − 1.13 (− 2.03, − 0.23), Z = 2.45, P for Z = 0.014; I2 = 97.1%, P for I2 < 0.001] and [SMD (95% CI): − 0.41 (− 0.68, − 0.15), Z = 3.03, P for Z = 0.002; I2 = 62.9%, P for I2 = 0.009], respectively). The difference of serum zinc level between overweight adults and controls was not statistically significant [SMD (95% CI): − 0.09 (− 0.27, 0.09), Z = 0.97, P for Z = 0.334; I2 = 0.0%, P for I2 = 0.411]. In subgroup analyses, a lower serum zinc level in obese children compared with non-obese controls was observed [SMD (95% CI): − 2.14 (− 3.20, − 1.09)], and the SMD differ significantly between obese adults and controls in the case–control studies [SMD (95% CI): − 0.49 (− 0.90, − 0.08)].

Conclusion

Our meta-analysis suggested that the serum zinc level was significantly lower in obese children and adults. More large observational studies are required to confirm these results in future research.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of the Province of Shandong (< Grant number ZR2015HM029> [to < XJ >]).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, The Medical College of Qingdao University, No. 38 Dengzhou Road, Qingdao, 266021, China

    Kunfang Gu, Wenzhi Xiang, Yue Zhang, Ke Sun & Xiubo Jiang

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Gu, K., Xiang, W., Zhang, Y. et al. The association between serum zinc level and overweight/obesity: a meta-analysis. Eur J Nutr 58, 2971–2982 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-018-1876-x

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