ESPE Abstracts

Micronutrients including vitamins and minerals are crucial for the body in small quantities. Their role in health is critical, with deficiencies leading to severe and sometimes irreversible life-threatening conditions. Micronutrients participate in cellular and biochemical processes, enabling the production of enzymes, hormones, cofactors and coenzymes. They ensure tissue maintenance, formation, and homeostasis, and support metabolic activities such as cell signaling, motility, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Deficiencies can lead to visible health issues and “silent epidemics”, characterized by declines in physical and mental abilities, inhibited growth and development, reduced educational attainment, and decreased work productivity, alongside increased health risks.

Introduction: Zinc is essential for human growth and development due to its cellular interactions with insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor -1 (IGF-1). Zinc influences enzyme systems that control cell division and proliferation and affects the hormonal regulation of cell division, with the GH-IGF-1 axis responding to zinc status. Zinc deficiency impairs GH secretion from the pituitary, while plasma IGF-1 levels and growth velocity improve with zinc supplementation in children.

Case Presentation: A 7-year-old girl was referred to our endocrinology department due to growth problems. She was born at 38 weeks from the first pregnancy, wjth a birth weigth of 3.1 kg and a length of 50 cm. Her Apgar scores were 9-10, and her medical history is unremarkable, with no known genetic diseases. She was breastfed for only one month. According to her parents, she could stand independently at 7 months and stasted walking at 9 months. She has a younger sister with normal heigth for her age. The patient’s IQ is within the normal range (score of 108), and her bone age corresponds to her chronological age of 7 years.

• Weight: 23 kg (40^th percentile)

• Height: 118 cm (20^th percentile)

• BMI: 16.5 kg/m² (48^th percentile)

• Target height: 168 cm (65^th percentile)

• Tanner stage: 1 (ma: 1; ax: 1; pub: 1)

Conclusion: Currently, unhealthy lifestyles and unbalanced nutrition, especially among children, lead to poor nutritional status, resulting in growth and developmental delays in adolescents.