May 28, 2010
By Jessica Forbes MS, CCN
Earlier this week I was talking with a friend whose skin scars easily about the possibility that she needed more zinc in her diet. Zinc is absolutely necessary for “knitting together” the proteins involved in healing injuries to the skin, so low levels of zinc would make it more likely for skin to scar.
Here are a few other signs that a person may need to boost zinc intake:
• Skin that is unusually prone to sunburn (after taking into account fairness of skin)
• Skin that takes an abnormally long time to heal from everyday cuts and scrapes
• Peeling or bleeding of the skin around the fingernails (and also white spots on the fingernails that are not related to trauma)
• Rough skin
• Lowered sense of taste or smell
• Lack of appetite
• Lowered desire for protein foods
• Lowered immunity or feeling like you’re “catching every bug that comes along”
• Frequent yeast infections
Most people can obtain adequate levels of zinc by eating several servings daily of protein-rich foods, which are usually a natural source of zinc. However, some people may be at risk for lower zinc levels. A few things that can cause zinc levels to be low include:
• Vegetarian or low-protein diet
• Use of medications that lower zinc including birth control pills, diuretics, and gout medications
• Frequent exposure to copper, such as those who work with copper pipe or copper wire in the workplace
If you are unable to obtain adequate zinc from your diet and need to supplement, look for a zinc supplement that contains zinc that is attached to amino acids – this is a highly absorbable type of supplemental zinc. To find out more about the many roles zinc plays in health as well as amounts obtained from various foods, visit the Linus Pauling Micronutrient Center’s entry on zinc.
NOTE: Please consult with your doctor before taking any nutritional supplements. This blog is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified healthcare practitioner.
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