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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Dietary Prevention of Obesity-related Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #65855
Title: COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOMOTOR EFFECTS OF ZINC SUPPLEMENTATION OF URBAN CHINESE CHILDREN

Author
item Penland, James
item SANDSTEAD, HAROLD - UNIV OF TEXAS
item CHEN, XUE - CHINESE ACAD PREV MED
item LI, JUE - QINGDAO MEDICAL COLLEGE
item YANG, JIA - 3RD MILITARY MED UNIV
item ZHAO, FAJI - SECOND MILITARY MED UNIV

Submitted to: Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/14/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Three-hundred sixty children aged 6-9 years from poor areas of Chongqing, Qingdao, and Shanghai in the Peoples Republic of China received a treatment of 20 mg/d zinc (Zn), Zn plus micronutrients (Zn+M; 50% RDA or mean ESSADI, excluding Zn, Ca, Mg, P; folate at 25% RDA), or micronutrients alone in a double-blind fashion for 10 weeks. Cognitive and psychomotor function were assessed at baseline and 10 weeks by measuring performance on a battery of computer-administrated tasks designed specifically to emphasize attention, perception, memory and concept formation, and the motor and spatial skills necessary for successful performance. Plasma lead was also measured and included as a covariate in the analysis of treatment effects. Compared to M alone, Zn and Zn+M resulted in greater improvement in finger tapping (manual dexterity) and visual tracking (eye-hand coordination). Compared to either Zn or M alone, Zn+M resulted in greater improvement in matching (perception) and recognition (memory) of colored shapes, and in performance on an oddity task (concept formation). There were no treatment effects on continuous performance (attention), search (attention and perception), or serial object recognition (memory). These findings have important practical implications for the estimated 30% of Chinese children who are zinc deficient. They also underscore the need to examine a wide variety of cognitive processes when assessing the impact of nutritional intervention or suboptimal nutrition on cognitive and psychomotor function.