Zinc


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Dietary zinc is absorbed mainly from the duodenum by active and passive mechanisms. Once absorbed, zinc is transported to the liver bound to albumin.[1] Dietary zinc is available from a number of animal sources; especially human milk shellfish and animal meats. Zinc is also available in legumes, nuts and whole grain cereals but it is relatively poorly absorbed from these sources.

Deficiencies of any one of these vitamins are extremely rare in healthy dogs fed commercial pet foods. A deficiency state could occur for one or more of the B-complex vitamins in animals fed homemade diets that are not properly formulated or balanced.

Deficiency can lead to kidney damage: and kidney stones, muscle cramps, atherosclerosis, heart attack, epileptic seizures, nervous irritability, marked depression and confusion, impaired protein metabolism, and premature wrinkles. Magnesium deficiency increases an individual's susceptibility to high blood pressure. Deficiencies in these 2 nutrients remain a global problem, especially among women and children in developing countries. Many studies indicate the low zinc intakes among premenopausal women and avoidance of meat intake is characterized as one of the main causes.

Diet and Testosterone Avoid: The following foods are not testosterone friendly food and drink sources: fried foods, sugar and caffeine over stimulate the adrenals, which produce some testosterone. Over stimulating the adrenals leads to ?adrenal exhaustion?, means they are not going to produce testosterone or anything else.[8] Dietary zinc may impact physiological function during periods of increased energy use by influencing the activity of carbonic anhydrase, a zinc-containing enzyme, in red blood cells. Fourteen men, aged 20-31 y, were randomly assigned and fed diets made of conventional Western foods for 9-wk periods with a 6-wk washout in a double-blind, cross-over study with low and supplemental zinc (3.8 and 18.7 mg/d) diets.[9] Dietary advice should be supplemented with smoking cessation advice if relevant, as smoking is a risk factor for ARMD. [10]

Dietary iron exists generally in two forms, heme and non-heme, that are absorbed by different mechanisms. Heme iron is a protoporphyrin molecule containing an atom of iron; it comes primarily from hemoglobin and myoglobin in meat, poultry , and fish.[11] Dietary calcium and protein data were also available for 14 of the data. [12]

Diets high in fiber decrease the absorption of zinc. Oral contraceptives increase the need for zinc.[13]

Treatment involved zinc supplementation and a community effort to provide fresh breast milk for the infant. With treatment, the infant improved dramatically.[17] Treatment with dimercaprol 2.3 mg/kg body weight intramuscularly every four hours for 4 injections, then once daily for 6 days, resulted in clinical improvement and a fall in zinc concentrations. [18]

Absorption of dietary zinc is adversely affected by high dietary levels of phytates, calcium, phosphorous and fibre. Also, trace minerals such as copper and iron in high levels compete for ligands, leaving less ZBL to form complexes with zinc ions. Absorption of these into our bodies from food varies greatly; serum levels of both are regulated by a protein called metallothionein (Cousins, 1989), so that changing the level of one modifies the other in a see-saw fashion. From 14 to 41% of dietary zinc is absorbed in healthy people (Hunt and Groff, 1990; Sandstead, 1973); percentages of copper absorption are poorly known, but 25 to 60% has been suggested (Turnlund, 1988).[22]

Based on this study it appears that the requirement for total dietary zinc is modified by the feeding of phytase in pig diets. The authors suggest that this fact should be taken into account when establishing dietary recommendations for zinc.[25] Based on 1,000 weight parts of the oligopeptide thus obtained, one weight part of zinc ions is mixed and allowed to chelate, to yield a zinc-oligopeptide. Then, the resulting zinc-oligopeptide solution is concentrated to a solid content of 32-36% and dried to produce zinc-oligopeptide powder.[26]

Studies in humans have not shown any clinically significant changes in thyroid function (N. In the laboratory, genistein and daidzein, the principal isoflavones in soy, have been shown to inhibit thyroid hormone biosynthesis enzymes (Divi et al., 1997).[27] Studies with pregnant rats has found, that zinc deficiency will lead the offspring to be born with gross congenital malformations encompassing every organ system of the body. In addition, zinc deficiency in both male and female weanling rats resulted in extreme retardation of growth, abnormal hair and dermal lesions, depression of plasma protein level, anencephalus, abnormal estrous cycles, as well as with histological lesions in both testes and oesophagus [81].[28] Studies show that vegetarian diets often contain less zinc than meat-diets, so vegetarians need to eat plenty of foods that are rich in zinc. [29]