Zinc distribution in blood components, inflammatory status, and clinical indexes of disease activity during zinc supplementation in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

The effects of zinc supplementation on zinc status and on clinical and biological indicators of inflammation were investigated in 18 patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases and in 9 healthy control subjects. Patients with mild and recent onset disease were assigned to a 60-d trial to receive either 45 mg Zn (as gluconate)/d or a placebo, while control subjects received the zinc supplement. Baseline mean plasma zinc of the patients was low whereas mononuclear cell zinc content was elevated, suggesting a redistribution of the element related to the inflammatory process rather than to a zinc-deficient state. Zinc supplementation increased plasma zinc to a similar extent in patients and in control subjects, which suggested no impairment of zinc intestinal absorption as a result of the inflammatory process. On the contrary, erythrocyte and leukocyte zinc concentrations were not modified in the two groups examined. No beneficial effect of zinc treatment could be demonstrated on either clinical or inflammation indexes.