Zinc: Everything You Need to Know
Zinc is an essential nutrient found in a variety of plant and animal foods, along with supplements. It plays a key role in skin health, immune function, and cell growth and may protect against acne, inflammation, and other conditions.
Benefits of Zinc and How To Add it To Your Diet
This video covers how zinc may effectively reduce inflammation, boost immune health, reduce your risk of age-related diseases, speed wound healing and improve acne symptoms.
(Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMQ6sdz-OQ8 )
Zinc is a nutrient that plays many vital roles in your body.
Because your body doesn’t naturally produce zinc, you must obtain it through food or supplements.
This article explains everything you need to know about zinc, including its functions, health benefits, dosage recommendations, and potential side effects.
What is zinc?
Zinc is considered an essential nutrient, meaning that your body can’t produce or store it.
For this reason, you must get a constant supply through your diet.
Zinc is required for numerous processes in your body, including (1Trusted Source):
gene expression
enzymatic reactions
immune function
protein synthesis
DNA synthesis
wound healing
growth and development
Zinc is naturally found in a wide variety of both plant and animal foods.
Foods that don’t naturally contain this mineral, such as breakfast cereals and snack bars, are often fortified with synthetic forms of zinc.
You can also take zinc supplements or multi-nutrient supplements that provide zinc.
Because of its role in immune function, zinc is likewise added to some lozenges and other natural cold treatments (2Trusted Source).
SUMMARY: Zinc is an essential mineral that your body does not make on its own. It aids growth, DNA synthesis, immune function, and more.
Role in your body
Zinc is a vital mineral that your body uses in countless ways.
In fact, zinc is the second-most abundant trace mineral in your body — after iron — and is present in every cell (3Trusted Source).
Zinc is necessary for the activity of over 300 enzymes that aid in metabolism, digestion, nerve function, and many other processes (4Trusted Source).
In addition, it’s critical for the development and function of immune cells (5Trusted Source).
This mineral is also fundamental to skin health, DNA synthesis, and protein production (3Trusted Source).
What’s more, body growth and development relies on zinc because of its role in cell growth and division (6Trusted Source).
Zinc is also needed for your senses of taste and smell. Because one of the enzymes crucial for proper taste and smell is dependent on this nutrient, a zinc deficiency can reduce your ability to taste or smell (7Trusted Source).
SUMMARY: Zinc is essential for cell growth and division, immune function, enzyme reactions, DNA synthesis, and protein production.
