Serum metal levels in a population of Spanish pregnant women

Objective To describe serum levels of calcium, copper, selenium, magnesium, iron and zinc and evaluate their relationship with maternal socio-demographic characteristics and dietary variables in women in the first trimester of pregnancy. Method Cross-sectional study with 1279 participants from the INMA cohorts. Results The concentrations of the elements analyzed were within the normal range. Associations with higher levels of these metals were found for calcium with white meat intake (p=0.026), for copper with excess body weight (p <0.01), low social class (p=0.03) and being multipara (p <0.01), for magnesium with being over 35 years old (p=0.001), high social class (p=0.044), primiparous status (p=0.002) and low daily intake of bread (p=0.009) and legumes (p=0.020); for zinc with university education (p=0.039) and residence in Gipuzkoa (p <0.01), and for selenium with residence in Valencia (p <0.01), university education (p=0.001), vitamin B6 supplementation (p=0.006), fish intake (> 71g/day) (p=0.014) and having been born in Spain (p=0.001). Further, lower iron levels were associated with being overweight (p=0.021) or obese (p <0.001) and vitamin B12 supplementation (p=0.006). Conclusions Our results suggest that trace elements in the analyzed cohorts are adequate for this stage of pregnancy. The variability in these elements is mainly linked to socio-demographic and anthropometric variables.