Paternal and maternal zinc status: Do they have effect on fetal outcomes?

Background: The deficiency of specific micronutrients in mothers including zinc increases the risk of pregnancy complications. Although there are many studies in literature describing the relationship between low maternal zinc levels and poor pregnancy outcomes including prematurity and low birth weight; there is not any study on paternal zinc level. In this study, we aimed to define the relationship between deficiency of maternal and paternal zinc levels and prematurity and low birth weight. Material and Methods: We determined the zinc levels of parents of preterm infants (102 mothers and 108 fathers) low birth weight infants (43 mothers and 42 fathers) and healthy term infants (108 mothers and 111 fathers). Results: We found that low maternal zinc levels increased the preterm delivery risk by 4.95 fold and each 10 mg increase in maternal zinc level resulted in 6.9 g increase in birth weight. We showed that the critical maternal cut off value of zinc level was 75UI/L. There was no effects of low paternal zinc level on preterm birth or low birth weight. Conclusion: It seems that zinc status of mothers is related to poor pregnancy outcomes such as prematurity and low birth weight and healthy nutrition of mothers is a simple strategy for prevention of those complications.