The investigation on tobacco harvesting worker's oxidative-antioxidative and zinc levels

IV ABSTRACT THE INVESTIGATION ON TOBACCO HARVESTING WORKER'S OXTOATTVE-ANnOXIDATrVE AND ZINC LEVELS Yasemin SUNUCU KARAFAKIO?LU Department Of Chemistry Afyon Kocatepe University Institue Of Natural Sciences February 2003 Advisor: Prof. Dr. Yılmaz DÜNDAR The purpose of this study is to examine blood lipid peroxidation, SOD enzyme's activity and Zn levels. This is a cross-sectional study based on a sample of 20 tobacco harvesting worker women aged 30-40 years. Measures of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxidedismutase (SOD), and Zn (zinc) were made by spectrophotometer. A significant increase was observed in the level of MDA (P=0.0001), while a significant change in the level of SOD (P=0,019). There was no significant change in Zn activity (P=0,16). When findings are evaluated according to literature, oxidative status of all the women increased, and the antioxidant levels decreased. These results suggest that tobacco harvesting procedures may have health risks because of the increased oxidative stress. The literature on green tobacco's effect on oxidant-antioxidant rate has been found to be very limited. Further studies can focus on this issue.