ABSTRACT
A longitudinal study was carried out on zinc, copper, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium status of 104 normal primigravidas. The five elements in serum and hair of the mothers and their newborns were estimated with inductive coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentration of serum zinc, calcium, magnesium decreased gradually while copper and phosphorus increased remarkably in the course of pregnancy. The serum copper and phosphorus of cord blood were lower, zinc and calcium were higher than that of mothers' blood. The contents of hair zinc, copper, and phosphorus showed no differences but calcium and magnesium decreased gradually during pregnancy. Except that the level of copper in the newborns' hair was much lower, other elements were much higher than that in the mothers' hair.