Zinc deficiency affects an estimated 40% of humanity.

Originally shared by Alex P

Zinc deficiency affects an estimated 40% of humanity. I did a blood test this week and zinc was 75 μg/dL (normal range is wide 56 to 134) after using for years a daily multivitamin containing 15 mg of zinc in the form zinc oxide which has about 50% absorption rate as explained below. I also did the far less reliable taste test for zinc (explained at the end) which showed a possible mild zinc deficiency. This means that as a vegan, a multivitamin with 15 mg of zinc may actually be the minimum needed, given that a lot of studies showed even at levels of 85 μg/dL people have cured many conditions by taking extra zinc - perhaps because blood serum is not always an accurate marker of body stores of zinc. Severe zinc deficiency leads to much higher risk of diabetes, inability to repair and synthesize DNA, stunted growth, white spots on nails or slower wound healing, skin issues, infertility.

Zinc supplements/foods lower blood glucose and pressure, bad LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol, decrease lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress, improve eye sight and diminish age related vision loss, shorten the duration of the common cold, increase the height and weight of babies, increase the cognitive performance (IQ probably too) of people and animals and sometimes can even cure hair loss and acne. Zinc deficiency is linked to depression, Alzheimer and many disorders of the brain, not just hair loss, infection, diarrhea, weak immune system, acne, heart disease and diabetes. Zinc is needed by 1000+ transcription factors and 300+ enzymes in the body, being a part of some neurons, having a critical role in DNA synthesis and repair. 40% of humanity is estimated to be deficient in zinc. Some vitamin brands have only 10% of the daily needs of zinc, while others 100%, but even that is only absorbed 50-61%. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3607807/. The concentration of cellular zinc is rather high at 0.2-0.3 mmol, almost as high as that of ATP, which can be 0.5 to 10 mmol depending on cell. 10% of genome is believed to encode Zinc proteins. Zinc is used as a cofactor in proteins much more frequently than most vitamins. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3648744/. For a very cheap zinc deficiency test, see the end of the post.

The NIH website on Zinc may be helpful for those who are looking for extra information and studies, as well as suggested intakes of zinc, about 12 mg a day for adults, etc ► https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/

ZINC ABSORPTION

Zinc administration for 4 weeks, in 50 mg doses, led to a real rise in hair, urine, blood (red blood cells) only for Zinc picolinate, with no rise for placebo, zinc citrate, zinc gluconate. This may mean picolinate is much better absorbed or more available to the body. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3630857 ► Agents Actions. 1987 Jun;21(1-2):223-8.

Zinc bis-glycinate was 43% more bioavailable (more present in serum) than zinc gluconate. They used 15 mg doses ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18271278 ► Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2007 Jul;77(4):243-8.

Organic zinc, such as picolinate, citrate, gluconate is less blocked from absorption than inorganic zinc (zinc oxide, zinc sulfate) by iron sulfate. This may be why some people taking vitamins with zinc oxide and iron sulfate as zinc and iron sources may have poorer absorption of zinc. However, today most vitamins have zinc oxide and ferrous fumarate, which may interfere less with zinc. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7223699 ► Am J Clin Nutr. 1981 Apr;34(4):475-82.

High dietary calcium reduces zinc absorption and balance. Zinc absorption from a meal containing 7.3 mg Zinc was reduced significantly by 50% when a calcium supplement was given with the meal. Inclusion of 7.8 mg Zn as part of a calcium supplement offset the detrimental effect of calcium on zinc absorption from the food. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9174476 ► Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Jun;65(6):1803-9.

Zinc Oxide (most common form of zinc in vitamins) has only 50% bioavailability, while zinc acetate and zinc gluconate have 61%. "Median (IQR) fractional absorption of zinc from zinc citrate was 61.3% (56.6–71.0) and was not different from that from zinc gluconate with 60.9% (50.6–71.7). Absorption from zinc oxide at 49.9% (40.9–57.7) was significantly lower than from both other supplements " ► free paper ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901420/. ► J Nutr. 2014 Feb; 144(2): 132–136.

Studies also show combining a high zinc foods with some forms of fiber or phytates (very common in virtually all packaged foods, all burgers, vegan protein powders, etc), drastically reduces the amount of zinc absorbed. Cooking causes advanced glycation end products that precipitate zinc in feces. High protein diets can cause zinc to be absorbed poorly, same for high phytate diets (unsoaked beans for example, eating lots of bread, cookies, crackers, cereals, nuts, grains, beans, lentils) and diets high in some forms of fiber. Given how much zinc lowers bad cholesterol and blood glucose in some studies, if absorption is compromised, many millions of people will be deficient even in the West leading to arterial plaque and diabetes. Currently, it's hypothesized that some genes predispose people to poorer absorption of zinc, leading to zinc deficiency and all kinds of related problems, as explained at ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC419995/ ► "In this article, we identify a gene, SLC39A4, located in the candidate region and, in patients with AE, document mutations that likely lead to the disease. The gene encodes a histidine-rich protein, which we refer to as “hZIP4,” which is a member of a large family of transmembrane proteins, some of which are known to serve as zinc-uptake proteins." AE or Acrodermatitis enteropathica without treatment is fatal, with people dying in a few years sometimes, people need take extra zinc for life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrodermatitis_enteropathica

POSSIBLE LETHAL EFFECTS OF ZINC DEFICIENCY

"In the Middle East, zinc-deficient dwarfs did not live beyond the age of 25 y, and they died because of intercurrent infections. The first case of zinc deficiency in the United States was reported by Caggiano et al. (16) in 1969 in a Puerto Rican subject with dwarfism, hypogonadism, hypogammaglobulinemia, giardiasis, strongyloidosis, and schistosomiasis. Zinc supplementation resulted in improved growth and development." ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3649098/ ► Adv Nutr. 2013 Mar; 4(2): 176–190.

LONGEVITY

"The risk of mortality was reduced by 27% in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study Group studies in subjects 55–81 y of age who received only therapeutic zinc daily" ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3649098/ ► Adv Nutr. 2013 Mar; 4(2): 176–190.

BIRTH DEFECTS

A 1976 study found birth defects and infertility among women and men with low zinc ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1067747. ► Acta Med Scand Suppl. 1976;593:38-49.

DNA repair depends on zinc. Low zinc leads to birth defects, low height and improper heart rate variability in kids. Zinc is a co-factor in 300 enzymes, including alkaline phosphatase, alcohol dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase, RNA polymerase, etc. Cadmium and Mercury are in the same group of metals, and bind to zinc sites easily sometimes due to similar structure. Zinc is used for DNA synthesis and neurotransmitter release. If there is deficiency, the brain area that suffer are hippocampus, cerebellum and the autonomous nervous system. "Zinc is a cofactor in enzymes that mediate protein and nucleic acid biochemistry. Fetal zinc deficiency results in decreased brain DNA, RNA, and protein content. Importantly, insulin-like growth factor I and growth hormone receptor gene expression are regulated by zinc. Neuronally, presynaptic boutons are dependent on adequate zinc for delivery of neurotransmitters to the synaptic cleft. Behaviorally, zinc-deficient rhesus monkeys have poor short-term memory. " ► Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb; 85(2):614S-620S. ► http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/85/2/614S.long - free paper. The paper explains some neurons contain zinc actually.

A great free paper on brain development and zinc is at https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/pubag/downloadPDF.xhtml?id=46899&content=PDF , Nutr. Rev 1985;43:129–37. The paper explains decades ago it was shown that people low on zinc grow to be shorter and that animals become dumber when deprived of zinc during early life and gestation (low zinc in mom diet). 2'-3' cyclic nucleotide 3-phosphhydrolase is involved in myelination of neuron axons and if there is no zinc, this enzyme diminishes its activity. Without myelination, neurons are slower at transferring information. Synthesis, repair of nucleic acids require Zinc. Enzymes that degrade catecholamines require zinc and in rats without zinc, their brain catecholamines are increased, leading to a state of stress, panic, fight-flight and impaired cognition as a result. Mothers who got zinc supplements got bigger babies. Swedish and Turkish studies showed pregnant mothers low in zinc gave birth to babies with malformations and birth defects. Other studies found that the lower the zinc, the more complications at the delivery of the baby.

ZINC & IQ

"zinc supplementation improved specific cognitive abilities, thereby positively influencing the academic performance of schoolchildren, even those without marginal zinc deficiency." ►Biol Trace Elem Res. 2013 Oct;155(1):23-8 ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23892699. Other studies found the same.

Those with Alzheimer have lower Zinc levels, but higher Mercury and Cadmium levels. Zinc, Cadmium, Mercury are in the same group and zinc can be displaced by these heavy metals.

DIABETES ► Diabetics have lower zinc levels. Free zinc concentrations in mitochondria are 0.14 pmol/L, while in the insulin-storing granules they can reach 100 μmol/L, or 0.71 billion times higher. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3648744/. The paper explains 10% of genome is hypothesized to encode for zinc proteins.

ZINC LOWERS BLOOD GLUCOSE by a huge amount, very useful to pre-diabetics and anyone who wants the best cognitive function, since high glucose impairs the brain ► "The pooled mean difference in fasting blood glucose between Zinc supplemented and placebo groups was 18.13mg/dl (95%CI:33.85,2.41; p<0.05). 2-h post-prandial blood sugar also shows a similar distinct reduction in (34.87mg/dl [95%CI:75.44; 5.69]) the Zinc treated group." ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407731/ ► Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2012; 4: 13.

HEART DISEASE

ZINC LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE, TOTAL AND BAD CHOLESTEROL ► " The pooled mean difference for total cholesterol between Zinc supplemented and placebo groups was 32.37mg/dl. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol also showed a similar distinct reduction in the Zinc treated group, the pooled mean difference from random effects analysis was 11.19mg/dl. Studies have also shown a significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressures after Zinc supplementation." ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407731/ ► Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2012; 4: 13.

COGNITIVE FUNCTION ENHANCEMENT DURING PREGNANCY

Maternal dietary zinc supplementation prevents aberrant behavior in an object recognition task in mice offspring exposed to LPS ( a toxin) in early pregnancy. ► Behav Brain Res. 2009 Jan 30;197(1):210-8. ►
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18793679/

Dietary zinc supplementation during pregnancy prevents spatial and object recognition memory impairments caused by early prenatal ethanol exposure.► Behav Brain Res. 2008 Jan 25;186(2):230-8. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17884190/

HAIR LOSS

Those not losing hair had zinc levels 17% above the levels of those losing hair ► Ann Dermatol. 2013 Nov; 25(4): 405–409. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3870206/ . This comes to no surprise, since DNA synthesis, repair and 200 enzymes depend on zinc. In one study, those with hair loss, received a chelate of zinc and L-carnosine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_L-carnosine) and all were cured partially or totally. "The administration of zinc for zinc deficiency-related alopecia may recover appropriate activities of metalloenzymes, hedgehog signaling, and immunomodulation, all of which are required for normal control of hair growth cycle." ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22741940/ ► Dermatol Ther. 2012 Mar-Apr;25(2):210-3.

Zinc inhibits DHT formation, and DHT leads to hair loss as explained at ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexPsi/posts/Y7WNKiH4bMs

ACNE

Low zinc is common in people with acne, which makes sense since virtually every process in the body is influenced by zinc, which helps in the synthesis and repair of DNA ► "The effect of zinc sulphate and placebo was compared in a double-blind trial in 56 patients suffering from acne vulgaris. Serum vitamin A levels were studied in all, before and at the end of therapy, 29 patients received zinc sulfate 600 mg daily and 27 patients received placebo. Patients on placebo showed no improvement. After 12 weeks of treatment with zinc sulfate, 17 patients (58%) showed significant improvement." ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6163281 ► Acta Derm Venereol. 1980;60(4):337-40.

Those with severe acne had low zinc ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6217164 ► Int J Dermatol. 1982 Oct;21(8):481-4

Another study found zinc helps heal acne a lot more than placebo ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6452464 ► J Am Acad Dermatol. 1980 Nov;3(5):483-91.

People with acne had low serum levels of zinc, vitamin A, vitamin E, while those with severe acne had lower zinc and vitamin E than the people with mild acne ► Cutan Ocul Toxicol. 2014 Jun;33(2):99-102. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23826827.

"Oral ZnSO4 (135 mg elemental zinc per day - that is 9 times the amount in most multivitamins) substantially reduced acne vulgaris lesions in several groups of young adults. Although the 15- to 19-year-old males with severe acne had initial serum zinc values lower than the healthy controls, none of the mean zinc values for any of the groups (range, 84 to 101 μg/100 ml) was below generally accepted normal serum levels (70 to 125 μg/100 ml)... serum zinc is not always an accurate indicator of zinc nutritional status," Apparently, one can have ok zinc serum level, yet still need more zinc to get rid of acne. This is a little bit like one can have normal level of mercury or aluminum in the blood, but one's brain can be fully loaded with mercury and toxic, the blood level of zinc temporarily does not tell the whole story about the body reserves of zinc where it is needed at the organ levels, in the 300+ enzymes and how many months it takes to replenish those needed reserves. We don't even understand what and how to assess the ideal level of metals in the body fully, even the vitamin and protein recommendations changed over time. ► http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/538987.

Zinc was much better than placebo at reducing P. acnes bacteria count (98% reduction) ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6234335 ► J Am Acad Dermatol. 1984 Jul;11(1):86-9.

"Plasma TBARS i.e. lipid peroxidation decreased significantly after receiving Zn supplementation...Eight weeks of Zinc supplementation (45 mg zinc gluconate) in healthy volunteers showed reduction in plasma levels of lipid peroxidation products, DNA adducts and reduced mRNA for TNF and IL-1 compared to control groups" ► people with hair loss have high TBARS and higher oxidative stress in blood. ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407731/ ► Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2012; 4: 13.

INFERTILITY

Low zinc is common in infertile men and women too ► "Zinc supplementation was found to significantly increase the semen volume, sperm motility and the percentage of ► normal sperm morphology ◄. The present study showed that the zinc level in the seminal plasma of infertile males was significantly lower than that of normal males." ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773819/ ► Sci Rep. 2016; 6: 22386.

Zinc ‘sparks’ fly from egg within minutes of fertilization ► https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/zinc-sparks-fly-egg-within-minutes-fertilization " “The discovery of egg cells’ massive intake and later release of zinc defines a new role for this element in biology,”

TESTING ZINC DEFICIENCY AT HOME BY TASTE

https://blog.radiantlifecatalog.com/bid/59012/Are-you-Zinc-Deficient-A-simple-DIY-test-from-Premier-Research-Labs presents a product called Zinc Assay, which is a solution of zinc sulfate. I actually bought this from amazon and tried it and it tasted pleasant, a little sweet, which means mild zinc deficiency as explained below. My lab result from August 21st 2017 for zinc serum came at 75 mcg/dL (reference range is 56 to 134), which in many studies is thought to be a mild deficiency, even if within the normal range of blood tests. So I take it as this taste test is pretty good and indeed, getting a zinc boost may be good in my case. Zinc serum doesn't even always reflect actual zinc stores within the body. The interesting part is that in many studies those with zinc even in their 80s (higher than 75) in serum cured a lot of issues with zinc supplements, indicating that perhaps, in some cases at least, normal serum zinc is not a reflection of body zinc needs. A lot of markers can be "within normal range", but data shows those with lower or higher values within that normal range have dramatically lower mortality rates. This product is based on the 1984 paper published in world's most famous medical journal, Lancet ► Lancet. 1984;324(8412):1162–1163. ► which states "The Bryce-Smith and Simpson zinc taste test (BS-ZTT) uses 5 to 10 mL of a 0.1% zinc sulfate solution. The solution is administered orally, and the reaction of the tested individual is graded on an ordinal scale of 1 to 4 according to the subject’s response to the solution. A score of 1 is given to individuals in which “no specific taste or other sensation is noticed, even after the solution has been kept in the mouth for about 10 seconds”; 2 when “no immediate taste is noted, but after a few seconds a slight taste variously described as ‘dry,’ ‘mineral,’ ‘furry,’ or (more rarely) ‘sweet’ develops”; 3 when “a definite though not strongly unpleasant taste is noted almost immediately, and tends to intensify with time”; and 4 when “a strong and unpleasant taste is noted immediately.” according to https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566477/.

In simpler words take a spoon orally and if you have enough zinc it tastes like very unpleasant, if you lack a little zinc it tastes somewhat unpleasant, if you have some real deficiency it tastes unpleasant after 10-15 seconds, if you have deep deficiency it tastes like water. This is a developing taste test, not always accurate, with new insights appearing, but this 2015 free paper https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566477/ provides some info for the curious.

Zinc sulfate taste acuity has been correlated with levels of serum zinc throughout pregnancy (the study method employed 2 mL of a 1% solution of zinc sulfate that is retained in the mouth for 10 seconds). ► https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8112809/ ► Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. 1993 Oct;37(4):318-22. ► "Pregnant women in different trimesters of pregnancy were divided into control (n = 58) and study (n = 104) groups. Study group subjects were given 45 mg zinc/p.o./day as 200 mg 'zinc sulphate tablets from the day of reporting till term. Body zinc status was clinically assessed by 'zinc taste test'. Blood samples were drawn at the same time and serum zinc levels measured. Zinc taste test scores decreased with advancement of pregnancy and increased significantly following zinc administration. Serum zinc level declined significantly with advancement of pregnancy. Following zinc administration, serum zinc level increased significantly. Accuracy of zinc taste test in individual cases ranged between 70 and 100 percent. On the whole, zinc taste test was well correlated with serum zinc level, and provides a fair idea of zinc deficiency."

However, this test is not very accurate always as explained at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22784341/, but it can be a very cheap way for people to pre-test themselves before they decide whether to do a blood test. I mean amazon sells zinc sulfate for 6 dollars https://www.amazon.com/ZINC-SULFATE-TABS-220MG-Tablet/dp/B000NPY1J8, so a solution is easy to make in water using the same ratio as the Lancet Journal papers and then one can do test at home or buy the zinc sulfate solution for 16 dollars for this test from amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Assay-Premier-Research-Labs/dp/B007SOV1YA. This solution they sell has 470 mg Zinc in 8 ounces of water or 237 ml or 2.08 grams of zinc sulfate heptahydrate ZnSO4*7H2O in 237 ml of water. It is a 1% solution, using the protocol of the https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8112809/ 1993 paper, not the 1984 0.1% solution protocol. So since the bottle has 100 capsules, you get to make from 6 dollars 80 dollars worth of this solution. The only problem might be the sulfate has fillers which may distort the taste test, but one may find a zinc sulfate that has nothing in it but zinc sulfate.

► VEGANISM ◄

For 100+ reasons I didn't eat meat for 21 years and dairy for 13 years (12% of millennials have already given up meat in America) see ► https://plus.google.com/+AlexPsi/posts/Hz1V4iQUyyJ. Going vegan is like planting 62 trees in your backyard, as far as CO2 emissions reduction.💜😊💜

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