Estudio controlado del cinc como biomarcador del estado clínico nutricional del enfermo crítico con síndrome de respuesta inflamatoria sistémica

Resumen

Nutritional Status Assessment in groups of healthy or ill people is a useful method to relate the habits of a population to its health status. Their metabolic stress situations makes critically ill patients a special population that requires nutrition monitoring according to specific protocols in which an attempt is made to adjust macro- and micronutrient intakes to its true needs. Critical patients need adequate levels of the mineral zinc due to its role as a metalloenzyme and to help maintain the structural integrity of molecules involved in the metabolism of other nutrients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the zinc nutritional status of a critical population with Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) in hospitals of Granada province (Spain) in comparison to a control group in order to determine any inadequate zinc intake and clinical or subclinical deficiency and shed light on the true requirements of these patients. This study focuses on the following issues: analysis of food and nutrient intake, clinical and anthropometric evaluation, and analysis of possible correlations between the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (zinc-dependent) and the intake and biochemical levels of zinc. In addition, a molecular study of gene expression was used to perform a detailed analysis of zinc transporters (ZnT and Zip) in both critically ill and control subjects, which may explain why some patients recover from the inflammation, whereas others worsen until they die.