Abstract
Background
The study was conducted to ascertain the influence of oral contraceptive pill (OCP)
uptake on serum zinc and selenium in contraceptive pill users.
Study Design
The concentration of zinc and selenium was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer
in 50 healthy women with normal menstrual cycles as a control group and 50 women taking
low-dose OCP.
Results
The control reference values were 81.61��9.44 and 70.35��25.57 mcg/dL, which were
obtained for zinc and selenium, respectively. Use of OCP resulted in a significant
decrease in serum zinc levels (p���.009, t=���3.666) and alteration of selenium levels but not significantly (p=.08, t=0.935). The duration of use beyond 3 months had no effect on the magnitude of the
decrease in serum zinc levels.
Conclusions
These findings may be important because selenium is currently believed to offer protective
benefits against carcinogenesis. It has been thought that the decrease in serum zinc
could be reflected in a reduction of tissue zinc status due to changes in zinc absorption,
excretion or tissue turnover. If these changes occur, the dietary zinc requirement
would be greater in women using OCP.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 06, 2009
Accepted:
January 22,
2009
Received in revised form:
November 5,
2008
Received:
April 13,
2008
Footnotes
���This study was supported in part by a grant from the Medical Sciences of Iran University.
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
