Trial reportEuropean journal of nutrition2016
Maternal zinc supplementation improves hepatitis B antibody responses in infants but decreases plasma zinc level.
Trial report in European journal of nutrition, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Efficacy of Zinc Supplementation Alone or in Combination for Improving Pregnancy and Infant Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Zinc supplementation for improving pregnancy and infant outcome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Interventions to improve birth outcomes of pregnant women living in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Gates open research · 2019Pooled it
- Impact of nutritional supplementation during pregnancy on antibody responses to diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination in infants: A randomised trial in The Gambia.PLoS medicine · 2019Trial
- Quantitative Characterization of the Serum Elemental Signatures in HBV Infection.Biological trace element research · 2026Article
- Combined copper and zinc deficiency is associated with reduced SARS-CoV-2 immunization response to BNT162b2 vaccination.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Some Immune Parameters of Term Newborns at Birth Are Associated with the Concentration of Iron, Copper and Magnesium in Maternal Serum.Nutrients · 2023Article
- The Gut-Liver Axis in Pediatric Liver Health and Disease.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Effects of vitamin and mineral supplementation during pregnancy on maternal, birth, child health and development outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2021Article
- The Influence of Nutritional Factors on Immunological Outcomes.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Review
- Maternal nutritional status during pregnancy and infant immune response to routine childhood vaccinations.Future virology · 2017Review
- They Are What You Eat: Can Nutritional Factors during Gestation and Early Infancy Modulate the Neonatal Immune Response?Frontiers in immunology · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe World Health Report identifies zinc deficiency as one of the major causes of disease in developing countries, and infants are at particular risk. We aimed to investigate the effect of maternal zinc supplementation on the infant's immune function in a population at risk of deficiency.
methodsIn a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial, mothers were supplemented either with 20 mg/day of elemental zinc (n = 20) or placebo (n = 19) at the beginning of second trimester, which continued until 6 months postpartum. Indicators of the infants' immune function measured included interleukin (IL)-7, thymic size and response to hepatitis B vaccination.
resultsInfants born from mothers receiving zinc supplements during pregnancy and postpartum had significantly lower plasma zinc (p < 0.05) but marginally higher IL-7 and antibody responses to hepatitis B vaccination (p < 0.10) than infants born from mothers not receiving zinc. Maternal zinc supplementation showed no negative impact on copper status of mothers or their infants. Maternal zinc supplementation did not influence infant thymic size, but cord blood IL-7 was found positively associated with thymus size at 1 month of age (r = 0.392) and with hepatitis B vaccine response at 6 months of age (r = 0.386).
conclusionPrenatal and postnatal zinc supplementation marginally improved T cell-dependent antibody responses in infants along with IL-7, a cytokine involved in human T cell development and maintaining homeostasis.
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Registered trials
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