Deficiencies of zinc have been linked to a number of health concerns
Examples are:
- Delayed skeletal maturation and defective mineralization of bone (monkeys)
- Weight loss
- Concurrent infections
- Hypo-gonadism in males
- Lack of sexual development in females
- Growth retardation
- Dwarfism
- Delayed puberty in adolescents
- Rough skin
- Poor appetite
- Mental lethargy
- Delayed wound healing
- Short stature
- Diarrhoea
- Pneumonia
- Stretch marks (striae)
- White spots on fingernails
- Reduction in collagen turnover and synthesis (in chicks)
- Reduction in collagen (in humans)
- Poor Immune system
- Acne
- Cross-linking of collagen
- Hyaluronic acid abnormalities (in swine)
- Defective connective tissue
- Macular degeneration
- Cataracts (in salmon)
- Teeth with black plaque like deposits (rats)
Abnormal levels of zinc have been found in the eyes of people with:
- cataracts
- cataracts or glaucoma
- macular degeneration, myopia or retinal detachment
- Zinc has been found useful in treating myopia (nearsightedness).
Interesting Facts About Zinc:
- Zinc levels are lower in gymnasts, and lower in female gymnasts than males. Rhythmic gymnasts have unusually high rates of scoliosis, delayed puberty, and hypermobility. As noted above, zinc deficiencies can cause delayed puberty. Zinc deficiencies in monkeys can cause soft bones similar to rickets in humans, which in turn can cause scoliosis and hypermobility. Perhaps a factor in why some gymnasts have scoliosis, delayed puberty and hypermobility is because they tend to be low in zinc.
- Zinc is important to male sex organ function and reproductive fluids.
- Coeliac disease can cause zinc deficiencies.
- A pilot study conducted by researchers at Louisiana State University Medical Center School of Medicine found that oral zinc administration given to subjects with drusen or macular degeneration had significantly less visual loss than the placebo group after a follow-up of period of twelve to twenty-four months.
- In a study of fish, it was concluded that zinc is essential for normal eye development in juvenile Chinook salmon.