PhD REVIEW Zinc status and its association with the health of adolescents: a review of studies in India Rama Kawade1,2* 1Biometry & Nutrition Group, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India; 2Health Genesis, Pune, Maharashtra, India Background: Zinc is important in adolescence because of its role in growth and sexual maturation. Adolescents from developing countries such as India may be at high risk of zinc deficiency because of unwholesome food habits and poor bioavailability of zinc from plant-based diets. Objectives: (1) to study zinc status and its association with profile of other micronutrients, (2) to construct a simple tool in the form of Adolescent Micronutrient Quality Index (AMQI) to assess quality of diets of the girls and (3) to examine the effect of zinc supplement on health of adolescent girls. Methods: Girls (10 16 years) from two secondary schools of Pune, Maharashtra state, in Western India were enrolled in a cross-sectional study (n 630). Data were collected on dietary intake, cognitive performance, taste acuity, haemoglobin, erythrocyte zinc and plasma levels of zinc, vitamin C, b-carotene and retinol. AMQI was developed using age sex-specific Indian dietary guidelines and healthy foods and habits described in the recent US dietary guidelines. Zinc-rich recipes were developed considering habitual diets of the girls and vegetarian sources of zinc. An intervention trial (n 180) was conducted to assess the effect of zinc-rich dietary supplements and ayurvedic zinc (Jasad) supplementation. Results: Prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies was high in these girls. Poor cognitive performance was seen in half of the girls, and salt taste perception was affected in 45%. AMQI was correlated with nutrient intakes and blood micronutrient levels (p B0.01), indicating the potential of AMQI to measure micronutrient quality of diets of adolescent girls. Results of the intervention trial indicated that supplementation of zinc-rich recipes vis-a-vis ayurvedic Jasad zinc has the potential to improve plasma zinc status, cognitive performance and taste acuity in adolescent girls. Conclusion: Review of the studies on Indian adolescent girls demonstrates the necessity of adopting zinc and micronutrient-rich diets for positive health building in adolescents. Keywords: zinc; micronutrients; India; cognitive function; taste acuity; supplementation; diet quality index This article has been commented on by Vaman Khadilkar and Anuradha Khadilkar. Please follow this link http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/15366 to read their commentary. Received: 4 June 2011; Revised: 11 March 2012; Accepted: 17 March 2012; Published: 12 April 2012 Tpersons he world’s 10 adolescent 19 years of population age, comprising 1,200 about million 19% of the total population is considered to be a nutritionally vulnerable segment of the population. Ado- lescents face a series of serious nutritional challenges, such as energy-protein malnutrition and micronutrient defi- ciencies. Due to increasing nutritional demands for rapid growth and inappropriate eating habits, prevalence of malnutrition is observed to be high in adolescents, which affects their growth and development. While the role of energy and proteins on physical growth is well established, recent studies have stressed the importance of micronu- trients in enhancing full growth potential. However, 60 80% of adolescents globally suffer from micronutrient Glob Health Action 2012. # 2012 Rama Kawade. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Glob Health Action 2012, 5: 7353 - DOI: 10.3402/gha.v5i0.7353 (page number not for citation purpose) 1