Research paper
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of the effect of zinc supplementation during pregnancy on pregnancy outcome in Bangladeshi urban poor.
Study answer
What this study found
Zinc supplementation did not improve pregnancy or birth outcomes. In the zinc group, mean birth weight was 2513 ± 390 g versus 2554 ± 393 g with placebo, and there were no significant differences in gestational age, infant length, head circumference, chest circumference, or MUAC. Low birth weight, prematurity, and small for gestational age rates were also similar between groups, and serum zinc at 7 months gestation was 15.9 ± 4.4 mol/L versus 15.2 ± 4.3 mol/L, P = 0.065. The authors concluded that zinc alone is unlikely to reduce low birth weight in this population.
- Study & population
- Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in pregnant women from the urban slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Intervention
- Pregnant women in the active arm received 30 mg elemental zinc per day as oral zinc acetate tablets, taken daily from enrollment in the last two trimesters until delivery.
- Key limitation
- A substantial number of participants were lost before delivery, and birth-weight analyses included fewer singleton infants than were randomized.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
BACKGROUND Maternal zinc supplementation has been suggested as a potential intervention to reduce the incidence of low birth weight in developing countries. To date, placebo-controlled trials have all been performed in industrialized countries and th…