Benefits Of “Zinc” Supplements

Foods containing zinc.

Solaray Zinc 75 MG - 100 Capsules

Nature's Way Zinc 30 MG - 100 Capsules

Nature's Plus Mega Zinc 100 MG - 90 Tablets

It also maintains memory, prevents premature delivery, combats some vision problems, protects sexual health, aids wound healing, and maintains sense of taste.


Zinc is one of the trace minerals; an inorganic substance found in extremely small amounts in certain foods. It and other trace minerals are essential nutrients; but, referred to as trace substances because they are needed only in tiny amounts.


Zinc is a component of the enzymes that are responsible for moving carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs, where it is expelled with each exhaled breath. Thus, plays a role in the respiratory process, one of the basic functions in maintaining life. Insufficient zinc intake, or the inability to absorb it properly, can result in a variety of health problems, particularly in unborn babies and growing children.


SIGNS OF DEFICIENCY:
Zinc deficiency impairs the body’s ability to utilize proteins, which is essential for growth and repair of cells. Along with other dietary minerals like calcium, copper, magnesium, and manganese, it is important to the health of your bones.


Lower than normal amounts of this mineral has been associated with poor appetite, poor growth in children, and loss of the sense of taste. Also, wounds heal more slowly when the body is lacking in zinc.


Excessive amounts of this trace mineral can cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, bleeding, and pain. It is one of the few minerals that may be needed in larger doses than those obtained in a balanced diet, but is often for the wrong reasons.


Most people do not need this supplement if they eat properly. The exception include people who have vision problems as a result of cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol abuse, and men who become sexually impotent because they have kidney disease.


Zinc supplements are also valuable in treating people with an inherited disorder called acrodermatitis enteropathica, which sometimes interferes with the body’s ability to absorb zinc. Symptoms of this condition include hair loss, growth retardation, diarrhea, and inflammation of the tissues around the fingernails. This disease was formerly fatal, but it can now be successfully controlled with zinc supplements.


It should be stressed that most people do not require zinc supplements, and that high dose supplements should not be taken except under the recommendation of a doctor. As with any dietary supplement, zinc supplements should be used in amounts typically recommended for nutritional purposes only.


FOOD SOURCES:
Almonds, beef, cashews, lamb, oysters, pecans, pumpkin seeds, spinach, sunflower seeds, turkey and wheat germ.


HERBAL SOURCES:
The best herbal source of zinc is burdock, chaparral, dandelion, horsetail, kelp and marshmallow.