Zincuria and zincemia in postmenopausal osteoporosis Freddy Contreras, Nelson Simonovis, Christian Fouillioux, Alejandra Bolı ´var, Jose L. Cevallos, Edwin Lezama, Manuel Velasco * Aportado Postal 76333, El Marques, Caracas A 1070, Venezuela Abstract Minerals and trace elements are essential for human health, especially during the growing period and old age. Zinc, as an essential element, has been considered necessary for the growth and stimulation of bone formation. Several authors have demonstrated an association between osteoporosis, urinary zinc excretion and high blood zinc levels suggesting that the changes in bone metabolism are the consequences of increased bone reabsorption in osteoporosis. To carry out this study, we selected a group of 62 females with similar characteristics following the inclusion and exclusion pre-established criteria. To make two comparative groups, determination of bone density was made to the initial group and according to these results, we obtained: (1) group A who were 32 postmenopausal healthy women, with a period of at least 3 years since their last menstrual period (LMP) and evidence of osteoporosis made by determination of bone density, and (2) group B who were 30 postmenopausal non-osteoporotic healthy women. From both groups, we obtained blood sampling for the determination of zinc levels. Group A showed higher values (mean F S.D. = 2.13 F 0.41) when compared with group B (mean F S.D. = 1.44 F 0.42) with t value of 6.223 and p < 0.0001. When we compared urinary zinc excretion in both groups, t and p values showed significant differences. We conclude that blood zinc levels and urinary zinc excretion are biochemical markers with high reliability to determine bone reabsorption for the assessment and diagnosis of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Osteoporosis; Blood zinc levels; Urinary zinc excretion; Bone mass; Menopause 0531-5131/02 D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0531-5131(01)00588-X * Corresponding author. E-mail address: veloscom@cantv.net (M. Velasco). International Congress Series 1237 (2002) 219 – 229