OBJECTIVES: to investigate the concentrations of Fe, Cu and Zn in samples of colostrum from Brazilian adult women puerpera of term infants (TI) and pre-term infants (PTI) and to evaluate the influence of some maternal variables (age, pre-pregnancy nutritional status, parity, maternal health alterations during the gestational period, per capita familiar income and living conditions) on the concentration of those elements, aiming to identify the women who were prone to produce colostrum with low levels of oligoelements. METHODS: 50 samples of colostrum from puerpera of TI and 38 from puerpera of PTI were collected from women interned at Instituto Fernandes Figueira, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. The levels of trace elements were determined by Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (TXRF) with Synchrotron Radiation. RESULTS: no differences were observed in the Fe levels between PTI and TI groups (p > 0,05). The Cu concentrations were higher in the PTI colostrum (p < 0,05) and those of Zn were higher in the TI colostrum (p < 0,05). We observed lower levels of Cu in the colostrum of puerpera of TI and lower per capita familiar income (p < 0,05) and lower levels of Zn in the colostrum of puerpera of PTI with pre-gestational ponderal deviation (p = 0,05) and age above or equal to 35 years (p < 0,05). CONCLUSIONS: the results suggest that puerpera of PTI with higher body mass and age present lower levels of Zn in the milk, posing a risk factor to the suckling in fast development phase.
Iron; Copper; Zinc; Colostrum; Oligoelements; Maternal child health
