Guest guest Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 > Sammy, any role for Zn supplements in prostate cancer? I think so. Indeed, Zn is one method of preventing unwanted aromatisation of testosterone to estrogen. I briefly mentioned the problem of E in the first post on PC. Increase in E crowbars T, less T less sperm, less libido. It all fits in. As for growth in teenagers, you might like to look at work done with arimidex in this respect. This drug prevents aromatisation of T to E and is used for postmenopausal BC treatment. However, since E is the growth hormone that triggers growth endplate ossification and a stop to physical growth, prevention of excess E in growing boys is desirable if they are to grow tall. This is the reason girls are usually smaller than boys: they have more estrogen at an earlier age and so stop growing sooner. I'll get back on this after I have updated my notes on qinghao. > CHA is a great place to learn! So is the TCM group ;-) Sammy. [] 11 October 2003 14:14 Zinc, Jing, male fertility & Stimulating growth in an adolescent Hi All, & Hi Sean, Sean Doherty wrote: > You might also try zinc supplementation. Oral zinc replacement > has normalized growth hormone levels and increased growth rate in > teenagers found to be GH-deficient, (ref. below). Collipp PJ, > Castro-magana M, Petrovic M et al. Zinc deficiency improvement in > growth and growth hormone levels with oral zinc therapy. Ann Nutr > Metab 1982: 26:287-290 Interesting stuff, Sean! Semen [Jing] is high in Zn; Zn deficiency can affect male fertility adversely and Zn supplements can help certain forms of male infertility. See 5 references, below. Several posts in the last digest mentioned Qinghao and cancer. CHA is a great place to learn! Sammy, any role for Zn supplements in prostate cancer? Best regards, Phil >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fertil Steril. 2000 Mar;73(3):435-42. Male factor subfertility: possible causes and the impact of nutritional factors. Wong WY, Thomas CM, Merkus JM, Zielhuis GA, Steegers-Theunissen RP. University Hospital Nijmegen, St. Radboud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. OBJECTIVE: To review possible causes for male factor subfertility with emphasis on nutritional factors such as zinc and folate. DESIGN: A literature search was performed on MEDLINE and via bibliographies of published works. RESULT(s): Many causes for male factor subfertility are described in the literature. Both environmental and genetic factors could play a role. However, the pathogenesis of male factor infertility is poorly understood, including the role of specific micronutrients such as zinc and folate. Both zinc and folate are involved in the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Despite the fact that zinc deficiency leads to several clinical symptoms such as decreased spermatogenesis and impaired male fertility, the exact pathophysiology has not been clarified. CONCLUSION(s): Because most causes of male factor subfertility are unknown, more research is needed. Because male factor subfertility due to nutritional deficiencies is in principle amenable to curative and/or preventive action by supplementation, emphasis should be put on studies on the effect of specific nutrients on male fertility. Publication Types: Review Review, Tutorial PMID: 10688992 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Arch Androl. 1999 Sep-Oct;43(2):135-40. Chronic cadmium toxicity to sperm of heavy cigarette smokers: immunomodulation by zinc. Al-Bader A, Omu AE, Dashti H. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Safat. The aim of the study was to investigate the role of zinc therapy in 125 male cigarette smokers with infertility. The mechanism involved in the zinc/cadmium relationship was evaluated through the effect of a zinc-deficient diet and supplementation on testes of male adult Sprague-Drew rats. Heavy smoking was associated with low sperm count, motility, and morphology and increased seminal cadmium levels. Zinc therapy improved sperm quality and increased seminal IL-4, but reduced TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma. A zinc- deficient diet led to high cadmium testicular accumulation comparable with those supplemented with cadmium. Cadmium had a linear correlation with TNF- alpha and IFN-gamma, but not with IL-4. Cytology of testicular aspirate and histopathology were normal in supplemented groups as in controls. These results indicate that zinc modulates the putative effect of cadmium through its enhancement of T-helper 2 cytokines expression and down-regulation of T- helper 1 cytokines. Publication Types: Clinical Trial Randomized Controlled Trial PMID: 10543576 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Am J Clin Nutr. 1992 Jul;56(1):148-57. Effects of dietary zinc depletion on seminal volume and zinc loss, serum testosterone concentrations, and sperm morphology in young men. Hunt CD, Johnson PE, Herbel J, Mullen LK. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, ND 58202. Identification of the andrological variables most sensitive to zinc depletion would expedite the diagnosis of male reproductive pathology induced by zinc deficiency. Eleven volunteers living on a metabolic ward were fed a diet composed of a mixture of a semisynthetic formula and conventional foods supplemented with ZnSO4 to supply a total of 1.4, 2.5, 3.4, 4.4, or 10.4 mg Zn/d. After an equilibration period of 28 d (10.4 mg Zn/d), all treatments were presented for 35 d each, the first four in random order and the fifth last. Compared with when they were consuming 10.4 mg Zn/d, volunteers consuming 1.4 mg Zn/d exhibited decreased semen volumes (3.30 vs 2.24 mL) and serum testosterone concentrations (26.9 vs 21.9 nmol/L), and no change in seminal zinc concentrations. Compared with 10.4 mg Zn/d, treatments of 1.4, 2.5, and 3.4 mg Zn/d decreased the total semen zinc loss per ejaculate (6.29 vs 3.81, 4.68, and 5.03 mumols/ejaculate). Seminal loss accounted for 9% of total body zinc loss when 1.4 mg Zn/d was consumed. Seminal phosphorus concentrations were elevated during all four phases of zinc depletion (28.4 vs 32.9, 31.0, 34.2, and 33.6 mmol/L). The findings suggest that serum testosterone concentrations, seminal volume, and total seminal zinc loss per ejaculate are sensitive to short-term zinc depletion in young men. Publication Types: Clinical Trial Randomized Controlled Trial PMID: 1609752 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Ann Nutr Metab. 1986;30(4):213-8. Serum and semen zinc levels in normozoospermic and oligozoospermic men. Madding CI, Jacob M, Ramsay VP, Sokol RZ. Zinc is necessary for growth, sexual maturation and reproduction. Because high concentrations of zinc are found in the male reproductive system, a relationship between zinc and male infertility has been suggested. We studied 11 unselected men who presented to a Reproductive Endocrinology Clinic with histories of infertility and low sperm counts. Reproductive hormones and semen and serum zinc levels were measured. All men had semen analyses performed on at least three separate occasions. A similar set of laboratory evaluations were performed on 11 other men who had normal semen analyses and no history of infertility. No abnormalities of reproductive hormones were found in either group. Mean serum zinc levels were significantly lower in the infertile men (p less than 0.05). Mean semen zinc levels were not significantly different. There was no correlation between serum and semen zinc levels in either group. A significant correlation was found between sperm count and semen zinc (r = 0.66, p less than 0.05) in the volunteers with normal counts, but not in the oligozoospermic men. The results obtained in this study suggest that lowered serum zinc is more common than formerly appreciated in unselected patients with infertility. The high level of zinc found in semen is due primarily to the secretions of the prostate gland and reflects prostatic stores. Serum zinc is thought to be a reasonable indicator of zinc status. The lack of correlation between serum zinc and semen zinc found in our study suggests that mild zinc deficiency may lower serum zinc while the larger prostatic zinc stores remain unaffected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) PMID: 3752921 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] J Lab Clin Med. 1980 Sep;96(3):544-50. Experimental zinc deficiency in man. Effect on testicular function. Abbasi AA, Prasad AS, Rabbani P, DuMouchelle E. Dietary zinc intake was restricted (2.7 to 5.0 mg daily) for 24 to 40 weeks in five male volunteers. Their mean age was 57 years. Oligospermia (total sperm count less than 40 million per ejaculate) was induced in four out of five subjects. A decrease in the sperm count occurred during zinc restricion and the early phase of zinc repletion before body stores of zinc were restored to normal. The duration of oligospermia in the four subjects ranged from 6 to 14 months. Oligospermia was reversed after zinc supplementation in physiologic amounts. The baseline sperm concentration and total sperm count per ejaculate in all five subjects dropped significantly (p < 0.05) after zinc restriction and returned to normal 6 to 12 months after zinc supplementation. The decrease in sperm count coincided with decline in Leydig cell function and was reversed after zinc supplementation in low doses. Our study has demonstrated that dietary restriction of zinc can affect testicular function adversely. This effect of zinc deficiency, however, is a reversible process and can be corrected by proper supplementation with zinc. PMID: 6772723 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Best regards, Email: < WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0] HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0] WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Hi All, & Hi Sammy > I am forwarding this from the CHA list as it may be of interest. > This Zn thing again, is a 'mechanistic' explanation for something > that works. I like to tie in the energetic with the mechanistic, so > does anyone know which meridians are affected with foods high in > zinc - whole grain cereals for example ? I'd hazard a guess and say > KI because KI is associated with reproductive function, plus the > 'tissue' of the kidney is the bone. Any first year TCM student > should be able to answer this one so someone have a go please !! > Sammy. .... and SKIN (?LU) and NAIL/animal hoof-horn [?LV]. Apart from effects on the testes, sperm & fertility, classical signs of Zn deficiency in animals include parakeratosis [skin thickening + flakes/cracks] + bad hooves/laminitis. Best regards, Email: < WORK : Teagasc Research Management, Sandymount Ave., Dublin 4, Ireland Mobile: 353-; [in the Republic: 0] HOME : 1 Esker Lawns, Lucan, Dublin, Ireland Tel : 353-; [in the Republic: 0] WWW : http://homepage.eircom.net/~progers/searchap.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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