[Zinc Intake Deficiency and Colorectal Cancer: What is the Situation in Our Population?]

Introduction And Objectives: Various experimental studies have shown that a deficient intake of zinc increases the proliferation of cells, the effect of carcinogens and the progression of colonic adenomas to carcinomas. The purpose of our study is to determine whether this relationship between zinc intake deficit and colorectal cancer can be found in our population.

Methods: The study included 100 cases of colorectal cancer which were compared with 200 control patients (76% hospital admissions, 22% in the community and 2% with normal colonoscopy). The sampling of cases was done consecutively without use of probabilities and with the later application of a stratified matching design. For data collection purposes, a food survey form was used. For the determination of a deficient zinc intake this was compared with the values of the United States' Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Deficient zinc intake was defined as values lower than 75% of RDA. Statistical calculations were effected by calculating chi-squared. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: Seventy-nine patients with cancer (79%) presented zinc intake deficiency, whereas the figure for the control group was 142 individuals (71%). From these data, a chi-square obtained was 2.19, corresponding to a p > 0.1.

Conclusions: Despite the evidence of the experimental studies, we have been unable to identify any relationship between deficient zinc intake and colorectal cancer in our population.