DIET AND CONTENT OF ZINC IN SERUM OF PATIENTS WITH BRAIN ANEURYSM

The aim of this study was to determine serum levels of zinc (Zn) in patients with a brain aneurysm. The content of Zn in serum was determined in 57 patients (aged 24-73, averaae age 52.9 +/- 11.5) and in 22 healthy people - control group (aged 20-58 years, average age 37.1 +/- 10.9). Food-frequency questionnaires were implemented to collect the dietary data. The content of Zn in deproteinated serum was analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) on a Z-5000 instrument (Hitachi, Japan) with Zeeman-effect background correction. The average content of Zn in serum of patients with a brain aneurysm was statistically significantly (p<0.03) lower (0.651 +/- 0.20 mg/L) than in the control group (0.761 +/- 0.19 mg/L). The content of Zn in serum of patients which were dead was significantly (p < 0.05) lower (0.544 +/- 0.19 mg/L) than in patients who survived (0.684 +/- 0.20 mg/L). We have not observed the correlation between the content of Zn in serum and sex, age and Body Mass Index (BMI), but in the control group we observed a significantly (p < 0.003) higher level of Zn in serum of males (0.875 +/- 0.17 mg/L) than females (0.648 +/- 0.13 mg/L). Frequent consumption of coffee, wholegrain bread cakes, and fish has the greatest influence on the content of Zn in serum of patients: but frequent consumption of raw vegetables was inversely correlated with serum content of Zn. The independent variables included in the model accounted for about 90% of the variance.