Author(s): Anuradha Jain, Meena Varma, B.K. Agrawal, A. A. Jadhav
The serum Zinc, Alkaline phosphatase activity and Albumin levels of 50 protein energy malnourished children (6 months – 5 years) were compared with those of 50 normal chil-dren. The levels of zinc was found to be significantly low in malnourished groups and tended to vary with the degree of malnutrition as compared to the control group (p<0.001). These levels were lower in children who had skin lesions than in those without such lesions (p<0.001). The alkaline phosphatase activity was also lower in the malnourished children as compared to control group (p<0.001). There was a positive correlation between the alkaline phosphatase activity and the zinc concentration. The low serum zinc levels were also corre-lated positively with hypolbuminaemia.