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Zinc and copper status was evaluated in nineteen children with chronic diarrhea. An intestinal biopsy suggested that eight of these patients had celiac disease and eleven suffered chronic diarrhea without malabsorption and had normal villi or minimal changes. They were studied for malabsorption and compared with two control groups consisting of nineteen healthy and eleven malnourished children. Plasma zinc was depressed in the celiac disease group when compared with the normal children, but was similar to that of the malnourished children. Hair zinc was also depressed for the chronic diarrhea groups (23.2 +/- 15.2 and 34.4 +/- 21.9 micrograms/g for those with or without malabsorption respectively, vs. 97.9 +/- 15.2 for the healthy group). Plasma and hair copper values were diminished in both groups with chronic diarrhea. A significant correlation was found between plasma carotene levels after oral carotene overload, and both plasma zinc and hair copper values (r = 0.62, p less than 0.01 and r = 0.56, p less than 0.05, respectively). There was also a significant correlation between plasma zinc and plasma protein (r = 0.54, p less than 0.05). Hair determinations seem to be more sensitive than plasma values to changes in zinc or copper status in chronic diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea in children is associated with lower levels of zinc and copper, especially when accompanied by malabsorption.