Zinc Deficiency

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http://www.mercola.com/2003/mar/12/zinc_deficiency.htm

 

Zinc Deficiency

 

By Dr. Ananda S Prasad

 

In 1974 the Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

made a landmark decision, to declare zinc an essential nutrient and establish

recommended dietary allowances for humans.

 

Later, including zinc in total parenteral nutrition fluids was made mandatory,

which undoubtedly saved many lives. Dietary zinc deficiency is very prevalent in

the developing world (affecting nearly 2 billion people) where mainly cereals

are consumed by the population. A meta-analysis of 33 prospective intervention

trials of zinc supplementation and its effects on children's growth in many

countries showed that zinc supplementation alone had a statistically significant

effect on linear growth and body weight gain, indicating that other deficiencies

that may have been present were not responsible for growth retardation.

 

Zinc supplementation has been shown to improve neuropsychological functions in

Chinese children with zinc deficiency. It reduces the incidence and duration of

acute and chronic diarrhea and acute lower respiratory tract infections in

children in developing countries, resulting in decreased mortality. Zinc

deficiency in pregnant women causes:

 

Abnormal labor

Retarded fetal growth

Fetal abnormalities

 

The immunological effects of zinc deficiency during the early 1960s were not

known, although I knew that patients with zinc deficiency in the Middle East

died of infection before the age of 25 (personal observation). It has now been

shown that in people with zinc deficiency:

 

Activity of serum thymulin (a thymus specific hormone involved in T cell

function) is decreased

An imbalance between T helper cell (Th1) and Th2 function develops

Lytic activity of natural killer cells and the percentage of precursors of

cytolytic T cells are decreased

 

Zinc deficiency has now been recognized to be associated with many diseases--for

example:

 

Malabsorption syndrome

Chronic liver disease

Chronic renal disease

Sickle cell disease

Diabetes

Malignancy

Other chronic illnesses

 

In these conditions, deficiencies of other micronutrients such as vitamins and

other trace elements may also be associated. It should be emphasized that

nutritional zinc deficiency in the developing countries does not occur in

isolation.

 

Recently the National Institutes of Health's Eye Institute conducted a large

double blind clinical trial including 3,640 elderly participants, which showed

that antioxidants and zinc supplements delayed progression of age related

macular degeneration and reduced the risk of loss of vision. Zinc deficiency is

also common in elderly people.

 

Zinc decreases the copper burden in humans; as such it has been used effectively

to treat Wilson's disease. In therapeutic doses, zinc has been shown to be

beneficial in the treatment of:

 

Hepatic encephalopathy

Sickle cell disease

The common cold

 

More than 300 catalytically active zinc metalloproteins and more than 2,000 zinc

dependent transcription factors involved in gene expression of various proteins

have been recognized.

 

The problem has been known for 40 years and a solution is still outstanding.

Despite all the evidence, practically no attention has been given by the world's

organizations to the problem of zinc deficiency. Growth retardation and

increased susceptibility to infectious and cognitive impairment are common in

developing countries where nutritional deficiency of zinc is also prevalent.

 

British Medical Journal February 22, 2003;326:409-410 (Full Text Article)

 

 

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

document.write ( " E-mail to a friend " );

 

This is an excellent comprehensive review on zinc from one of the top zinc

researchers in the world. While zinc is an essential component of human

nutrition and deficiency can result in some devastating symptoms as discussed

above, it is important to avoid the traditional paradigm approach to nutrients.

 

 

 

Most physicians, natural medical doctors and patients have a strong tendency to

target nutrients for specific diseases. I believe this is an artifact of being

so long rooted in the drug-based health care model. Most of you realize that I

am a minimalist when it comes to using supplements but still use them quite a

bit when indicated.

 

 

 

The key to supplement use is understanding who needs them and when. This usually

involves an individual assessment so that the individual with the disease is

treated--not the disease. This is an important distinction; if you supplement

with nutrients indiscriminately it is clear they can cause quite serious damage.

I have seen this happen all too frequently in many well-intentioned

professionals and patients.

 

 

 

Fortunately, metabolic typing in conjunction with hair analysis is often helpful

in providing this individualized assessment. I hope to share more details on

this topic later this year, but in the meantime my good friend and top-notch

nutritionist David Vaughan provides the following pearls on zinc:

 

 

 

People who build or move into new homes with copper pipes should supplement with

zinc for a year or two. Copper pipes are a huge unmentioned problem with very

long lasting and devastating effects. I think research would show a big increase

in cancer (especially female hormone related cancers) from copper plumbing. I

also believe there is a strong link between the so-called ADHD/ADD epidemic and

copper plumbing. Wouldn't proving that mess up the plumbing industry?!

 

Related Articles:

 

Zinc Therapy Reduces Duration of Colds

 

Zinc Essential for Normal Infant Growth

 

 

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