Relação entre estado nutricional do selênio e do zinco com o desenvolvimento infantil

Abstract

Selenium and zinc have been identified as essential minerals for child development, at the same time recent research, with the aim of improving the understanding of the mechanisms involved, has been the focus of studies. Aim: We aimed to verify the relationship between the nutritional status of selenium and zinc during pregnancy with Child Development. Methods: The sample group consisted of 29 children, born from women who were evaluated during pregnancy (second or third trimester), in 2015, regarding the nutritional status of zinc and selenium. The children were submitted to neuropsychomotor development assessment using the Bayley developmental scale. Plasma, erythrocyte and urinary selenium and plasma and erythrocyte zinc levels were analyzed in children and mothers; the nutritional diagnosis of the children, mothers and fathers who answered the structured socioeconomic questionnaire was verified. Results: The children were an average age of 3 ± 0.3 years. 72.4% and 17.2% of children and mothers, respectively, had erythrocyte zinc deficiency. As for erythrocyte selenium, 62.1% of children and 37.9% of mothers were lacking the mineral. The gestational plasma selenium showed a significant correlation with the diagnosis of neuropsychomotor development (r =-0.49 and p = 0.008), with the communication domains (r =-0.46 and p = 0.01) and with the gross motor-skills axial (r =-0.55 and p = 0.002). We did not find a correlation between the levels of plasmatic and erythrocyte gestational zinc with child development. Conclusion: Children born from mothers who had low levels of selenium during pregnancy showed worse results in terms of neuropsychomotor development; as well as to the domains of communication and gross motor, which was not observed for Zinc and its correlation with the development of children.