Author: Riley Pearce
Director of Social Media
There are so many micronutrients (nutrients required in quantities less than 100mg) that are essential to human health. We need a myriad of vitamins and naturally occurring minerals to help keep our various types of cells working correctly, to allow our brain to communicate with our tissues, and to help maintain hormone balance throughout the body.
As nutrition science continues to progress, we continue to discover the importance of different vitamins and minerals. It was just in the last 60 years that we discovered this article’s featured mineral: Zinc.
In the 1960’s an Iranian farmer who’s diet consisted of flat bread, potatoes, and milk, was found to have underdeveloped reproductive organs, anemia, and dwarfism. The cause: zinc deficiency. Later, scientists also discovered children in Ethiopia with similar diets who were suffering from the same consequences of zinc deficiency.
Zinc, as it turns out, is an incredibly important micronutrient in the human diet. Due to it’s relatively recent discovery, it’s exact interactions with various systems and tissues is still not quite well-known, but we do know that it plays a role in the development of many of our organ systems and the maintenance of homeostasis. It is especially critical in the diet of babies, children, adolescents, and pregnant and breast-feeding women.
Although scientists can’t say exactly how zinc works within the body they can say that without it we can run into a few problems. In the eldery, zinc deficiency can contribute to many of the signs of aging that we are familiar with already. These include increased weakness, psychological deficiencies like loss of memory and cognitive function, and diarrhea. For young and developing individuals, zinc deficiency can impair the overall development of those individuals. It can stunt growth, and cause developmental deficiencies in critical areas like their reproductive system in males (as seen in the Iranian and ethiopian populations discussed above).
Zinc deficiency can also weaken the immune system, and in severe cases can lead to diarrhea, loss of appetite, hair loss, impotence, and eye and skin lesions.
So although we may not know how exactly zinc works with the body, we sure know how not having enough of it can leave us in rough shape. The current recommendations for zinc intake per day are 8mg for women and 11mg for men. If you are any of the special populations mentioned above (pregnant, lactating women, growing children, or elderly) then your intake will have to be higher to support the higher demands of zinc. Also, if you are consuming a plant-based diet you will also require more zinc, or may benefit from zinc supplementation.
The main inhibitor of zinc absorption is phytic acid, which is a major component in cereal and legumes. This is why vegetarians and those individuals from Iran and Ethiopia that we mentioned before are typically zinc deficient.
So where can we get zinc from naturally? Animal proteins are the top sources for zinc and are where we can get the most bioavailable zinc, meaning it is the easiest for the body to absorb and we will likely absorb more of it from these sources. Just 100g of ground beef contains 44% of our daily required zinc.
The true zinc heavyweights are shellfish. Just 6 oysters provides you with almost 300% of your daily required zinc! Alaskan crab has a whopping 69% of your daily intake, and shrimp and mussels provide a modest 14% for every 100g.
Although cereals and legumes are high in phytic acid and would then intuitively be poor choices for dietary zinc, there is a way around this. Has anyone ever told you to soak your nuts, seeds, and legumes before? This is a critical step in removing the phytic acid from these foods. Once you have soaked and rinsed your cereals and legumes, things like chickpeas, lentils and beans can offer up to 14% of your daily zinc intake. Hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, squash seeds, and sesame seeds are also great sources of zinc providing up to 43% of your required daily intake.
When it comes to zinc you really want to make sure you are getting enough of it in your diet in order to develop properly. Thankfully there are a ton of natural sources to help you meet your daily intake requirements!
