Newsletter No. 4

We hope you are all keeping safe and healthy during these challenging and uncertain times.
 

Resources

New Technical Brief: Adjusting Plasma or Serum Zinc Concentrations for Inflammation

When assessing zinc status, there has been little consensus on how to control for the effect of inflammation - until now! Our latest Technical Brief no. 10 provides guidance on when and how plasma/serum zinc concentrations should be adjusted for inflammation. You can also read the full journal publication here.

Estimated prevalence of zinc deficiency with the use of different adjustment approaches in 6 preschool children data sets. McDonald et al. AJCN 2020

Upcoming Technical Briefs

The following Technical Briefs will be published soon:

  • A field-friendly method for measuring dietary phytic acid species in plant-based foods. 

  • Comparison of laboratory instrument types for analysis of plasma or serum zinc concentration.

IZiNCG is on Twitter and Linked-In!

Join the conversation on Twitter (@IZiNCG_) and Linked-In.

Zinc Fortification Task Force

The overall goal of our Zinc Fortification Task Force is to enhance the impact of zinc fortification interventions. Is zinc fortification an efficacious and effective strategy? What are country experiences with zinc fortification? The reports from our systematic review and country key informant interviews will be finalised in August. Watch this space!

If you haven’t already, please take a look at this case study: Addressing zinc deficiency through wheat flour fortification in Cameroon.

Research projects

ZiPT trial completed

It’s a wrap! Data collection for all 2,886 children enrolled in the Zinc in Powders Trial (ZiPT) in Bangladesh was completed at the end of January 2020. Data analysis and laboratory analyses of biochemical endpoints are underway, and we hope to publish key manuscripts this fall. Read more about the trial in our blog here, and in the protocol here.

Multiply-fortified salt study delayed

The scheduled implementation of Phase 1 of our study to evaluate the nutritional impact of multiply-fortified salt among women of reproductive age in Punjab, India, is somewhat delayed due to Covid-19. However, study preparations are ongoing and we hope to initiate data collection in early fall. Read more in our blog about the project.

Comparison of laboratory instrument types for analysis of plasma or serum zinc concentrations

Our laboratory project involving labs in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Vietnam, Switzerland and the USA has been completed. A digest of the findings will be available as a Technical Brief soon.

Read more on our IZiNCG Research Projects page.

Recent publications

We aim to update our page on recent zinc publications on a monthly basis. Please contact secretariat@izincg.org with news of upcoming publications!

Get in touch if you would like to write a guest blog on a zinc-related topic!

Advocacy efforts

Micronutrient biomarker assessment in national surveys

Did you know that there are published data on plasma/serum zinc concentrations for only 26 LMICs? IZiNCG is working with the Micronutrient Forum and other partners to increase the availability and quality of data on micronutrient deficiencies.

One virus, many consequences

We encourage you to join colleagues at the Micronutrient Forum and elsewhere to sign this call to action to stand together and build on evidence to inform nutrition responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conferences

In lieu of meeting face-to-face, it is heartening to see the many virtual conference solutions and webinars available to researchers and practitioners! We will do our best to advertise those with relevance to zinc nutrition on our conference page, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Please contact us on secretariat@izincg.org about upcoming virtual conferences and webinars.

Get in touch!

Please contact secretariat@izincg.org with your thoughts and ideas, or if you would like to share your research or programmatic findings related to zinc on our website.