ZINC POWER!
Zinc has been known to play a role in the biology of plants and animals since it was identified in fungus over a hundred years ago; but only in the past 17 years have we recognized it as essential for human health. In 1939 zinc was found to be the specific activator of carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme required for conversion of carbon dioxide into bicarbonate. This mechanism is the essence of acid-base balance, to maintain homeostasis, a stable ph under changing conditions of stress, exercise, climate and dietary loads. Otherwise we would die.
In the stomach this enzyme is required for the production of
hydrochloric acid and
hence it is essential for
complete digestion.
Zinc supplements
should be taken with
food to minimize
stomach irritation.
In fact, zinc sulfate has
been used medically to
induce vomiting.
Nowadays, zinc
picolinate and other
chelates are the
preferred zinc
supplements because
they are less irritating
and better absorbed.
Over 200 enzymes have been identified as zinc dependent. For example, it is essential to the function of carbonic anhydrase (ph balance), alkaline phosphatase (release of phosphate from bone and nucleic acids), RNA polymerase (cell division, nucleic acid synthesis and protein synthesis), insulin (glucose utilization), delta 6 desaturase (essential fatty acid utilization), alcohol dehydrogenase (detoxification of alcohol), ALA dehydrogenase (production of blood pigments and oxidative enzymes), zinc-finger proteins (production of steroids), thymulin (immune control), retinol dehydrogenase (night vision), carboxy-peptidase (intestinal protein digestion).
As you can readily see, zinc is involved in healing and repair of all tissues, though skin is most visible (dryness, raised hair follicles and thick
callus). It is vital to the production of sex and adrenal cortex hormones. It is also a key to pituitary control of sex drive, menstrual cycles and milk production. It is a control factor of immunity, infection and allergy. It also concentrated in the memory centers of the brain. Zinc depletion can cause memory loss; supplements can sometimes restore mental acuity.
In view of these facts it seems amazing that The Food and Nutrition Board did not regard zinc as essential and did not set an RDA (recommended daily allowance) until 1974. It is even more amazing that even today so few physicians are prepared to think zinc. But doctors are still recovering from a 50-year propaganda campaign
by the medical establishment to convince
Americans that our diet
is adequate. Zinc
deficiency was
assumed to be a rare
condition. In 1976, Dr.
Robert Henkin said: "In
the farthest reaches of
our imagination, I don't
think we have any idea
how important and
how widespread zinc
deficiency problems
are."
Zinc made headlines in
medical news in1963
when Dr. Ananda
Prasad went to Egypt
and Iran to investigate and seek the cause for the large number of sexually undeveloped male dwarfs there. Dietary inadequacy was obvious: very little protein from animal sources and over-dependence on wheat and unleavened bread. The diet was low in zinc and iron and high in phytic acid, which renders these minerals insoluble. Deficiency was suspected and confirmed also by abnormally low levels of zinc in their hair.
Dr. Prasad fed one group of these adult dwarfs a more complete diet. They grew 2 inches in a year. Another group received diet plus iron supplements and they grew an average of 3 inches in a year. A third group received diet plus zinc and they grew 5 inches. The zinc group also showed a dramatic rate of catch-up sexual development. There was no doubt about the power of zinc in these cases.