Table 3.

Anemia leads to abnormal blood zinc levels in bodies.

1.  Blood zinc status in healthy people (controls) and CKD patients
(1)Plasma zinc levels	Controls	CKD patients	p value	Reference
(µg/mL plasma)	a. 1.07 ± 4 (n = 11)	0.82 ± 0.04 (n = 10)	<0.01	[105]
	b. 1.016 ± 0.022(n = 50)	0.80 ± 0.03 (n = 10)	<0.001	[106]
	c. 1.14 ± 0.11 (n = 25)	0.95 ± 0.10 (n = 26)	<0.001	[109]
	d. 1.105 ± 0.175(n= 152)	0.705 ± 0.128 (n = 456)	<0.0001	[103]
	e. 0.93 ± 0.12 (n = 20)	0.81 ± 0.19 (n = 30)	<0.05	[110]
	f. 0.98 ± 0.15 (n = 11)	0.49 ± 0.18 (n = 127)	<0.0001	[64]
-----Lower plasma zinc levels in CKD patients-----
(2)Erythrocyte zinc levels
(µg/g Hb)	a. 44.1 ± 1.1 (n = 50)	55.0 ± 2.0 (n = 10)	<0.001	[106]
	b. 41.8 ± 63.0 (n = 20)	51.3 ± 10.3 (n = 30)	<0.05	[110]
(µmoles/L)	c. 148 ± 13 (n = 10)	198 ± 8 (n = 10)	<0.05	[108]
(mg/L)	d. 12.1 ± 1.2 (n = 25)	13.4 ± 3.1 (n = 26)	<0.001	[109]
(µg/109 RBC)	e. 0.63 ± 0.06 (n = 21)	0.72 ± 0.18 (n = 127)	<0.05	[64]
-----Higher erythrocyte zinc levels in CKD patients-----
2.  Blood zinc status in normal (controls) and anemic rats
(1) Plasma zinc levels (µg/mL plasma)	Controls	Anemic rats	p value	Reference
a. 5/6 nephrectomized anemic rats
	1.90 ± 0.3 (n = 6)	1.40 ± 0.2 (n = 6)	<0.05	[64]
b. Phenylhydrazine induced anemic rats
	1.45 ± 0.06 (n = 6)	1.29 ± 0.03(n = 6)	<0.001	[64]
-----Lower plasma zinc levels in anemic rats-----
(2) Erythrocyte zinc levels (µg/109 RBC)
a. 5/6 nephrectomized anemic rats
	0.50 ± 0.08 (n = 6)	0.90 ± 0.01 (n = 6)	<0.001	[64]
b. Phenylhydrazine induced anemic rats
	0.70 ± 0.21 (n = 6)	0.86 ± 0.10 (n = 6)	<0.01	[64]
-----Higher erythrocyte zinc levels in anemic rats-----
3. Animal model studies indicate that in anemia, zinc is redistributed from the plasma (causing the plasma zinc level to decrease) and from bones to the bone marrow to produce new red blood cells (reticulocytes) which have ~7 fold higher erythrocyte zinc levels (causing the erythrocyte zinc level to increase) [64]