{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,4]],"date-time":"2026-07-04T02:07:04Z","timestamp":1783130824114,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,27]],"date-time":"2022-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648339200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000348","name":"Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000348","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In host organisms with normal micronutrient status, nutritional immunity is a strongly regulated response aiming at decreasing the progression and severity of infections. Zinc deficiency may disturb this balance, impairing immune responses to infections, which may indirectly increase infection-related anemia. Since zinc deficiency may associate directly with anemia, the role of infections is often overlooked. Herein, we investigated the participation of infections (or inflammation) in the causal pathway between zinc deficiency and anemia. This transversal study, conducted in 2015 in Bengo-Angola, enrolled 852 under-3-year-old children. Logistic regression models were used to investigate interaction and mediation effects, and significance was confirmed by the Sobel test. In sum, 6.8% of children had zinc deficiency, 45.9% had anemia, and 15.6% had at least one intestinal\/urogenital parasite. Furthermore, we found (1) no evidence that inflammation mediates or interacts with zinc deficiency to cause anemia, and (2) zinc deficiency interacts with infections, significantly increasing the odds of anemia (OR: 13.26, p = 0.022). This interaction was stronger among children with iron deficiency anemia (OR: 46.66, p = 0.003). Our results suggest that zinc deficiency may impair the immune response to infections and\/or that intestinal parasites could have developed mechanisms to avoid zinc-limited environments. Further studies are needed to corroborate these suggestions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14071392","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,27]],"date-time":"2022-03-27T21:29:36Z","timestamp":1648416576000},"page":"1392","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Zinc Deficiency Interacts with Intestinal\/Urogenital Parasites in the Pathway to Anemia in Preschool Children, Bengo\u2013Angola"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Cl\u00e1udia","family":"Fan\u00e7ony","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade de Angola (CISA), Caxito, Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Central de Luanda, Apartado IV n \u00b05547, Luanda 5547, Angola"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"\u00c2nia","family":"Soares","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade de Angola (CISA), Caxito, Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Central de Luanda, Apartado IV n \u00b05547, Luanda 5547, Angola"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7474-6871","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Lavinha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Gen\u00e9tica Humana, Avenida Padre Cruz, Instituto Nacional de Sa\u00fade Dr. Ricardo Jorge, 1649-016 Lisboa, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6394-658X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miguel","family":"Brito","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade de Angola (CISA), Caxito, Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Central de Luanda, Apartado IV n \u00b05547, Luanda 5547, Angola"},{"name":"Health and Technology Research Center, Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Sa\u00fade de Lisboa, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, Av. Dom Jo\u00e3o II Lote 4.69 01, 1990-096 Lisboa, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"218","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cbpa.2009.11.008","article-title":"Nutritional immunity beyond iron: A role for manganese and zinc","volume":"14","author":"Skaar","year":"2010","journal-title":"Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"525","DOI":"10.1038\/nrmicro2836","article-title":"Nutritional immunity: Transition metals at the pathogen\u2013host interface","volume":"10","author":"Hood","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nat. Rev. Genet."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gammoh, N.Z., and Rink, L. (2019). Zinc and the Immune System. 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