What is Zinc ?

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Zinc is a mineral that's important to the body in many ways. Zinc keeps the immune system strong, helps heal wounds, and supports normal growth.

Zinc is a mineral.

It is called an "essential trace element" because very small amounts of zinc are necessary for human health. Since the human body does not store excess zinc, it must be consumed regularly as part of the diet. Common dietary sources of zinc include red meat, poultry, and fish.

Zinc deficiency can cause short stature, reduced ability to taste food, and the inability of testes and ovaries to function properly.

Zinc is taken by mouth for the treatment and prevention of zinc deficiency and its consequences, including stunted growth and acute diarrhea in children, slow wound healing, and Wilson's disease.

Zinc is taken by mouth for osteoporosis, cysts on the ovaries, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, warts, and muscle cramps in people with liver disease. It is also used for sickle cell disease, itching, rosacea, hair loss, psoriasis, eczema, acne, a blood disorder called thalassemia, Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome, Hansen's disease, and cystic fibrosis.

Some athletes use zinc by mouth for improving athletic performance and strength.

Zinc is also applied to the skin for treating acne, foot ulcers caused by diabetes, leg ulcers, diaper rash, warts, aging skin, brown patches on the face, herpes simplex infections, parasitic infections, and to speed wound healing.

Zinc citrate is used in toothpaste and mouthwash to prevent dental plaque formation and gingivitis. Zinc is also used in chew gum, candies, and mouth rinses to treat bad breath.

Zinc sulfate is used in eye drop solutions to treat eye irritation.

Zinc is injected into the vein to improve nutrition in people recovering from burns.

Zinc is needed for the proper growth and maintenance of the human body. It is found in several systems and biological reactions, and it is needed for immune function, wound healing, blood clotting, thyroid function, and much more.

Meats, seafood, dairy products, nuts, legumes, and whole grains offer relatively high levels of zinc.

Zinc plays a key role in maintaining vision, and it is present in high concentrations in the eye. Zinc deficiency can alter vision, and severe deficiency can cause changes in the retina.

Zinc might also have effects against viruses. It appears to lessen symptoms of the rhinovirus (common cold), but researchers can’t yet explain exactly how this works.

In addition, there is some evidence that zinc has some antiviral activity against the herpes virus.

Zinc is a chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. In some respects zinc is chemically similar to magnesium: both elements exhibit only one normal oxidation state (+2), and the Zn2+ and Mg2+ ions are of similar size.

Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The most common zinc ore is sphalerite (zinc blende), a zinc sulfide mineral. The largest workable lodes are in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Zinc is refined by froth flotation of the ore, roasting, and final extraction using electricity (electrowinning)

Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc in various proportions, was used as early as the third millennium BC in the Aegean, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kalmykia, Turkmenistan and Georgia, and the second millennium BC in West India, Uzbekistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Israel (Judea)

Zinc metal was not produced on a large scale until the 12th century in India, though it was known to the ancient Romans and Greeks. The mines of Rajasthan have given definite evidence of zinc production going back to the 6th century BC

To date, the oldest evidence of pure zinc comes from Zawar, in Rajasthan, as early as the 9th century AD when a distillation process was employed to make pure zinc. Alchemists burned zinc in air to form what they called "philosopher's wool" or "white snow".

Zinc is a mineral. It is called an "essential trace element" because very small amounts of zinc are necessary for human health. Since the human body does not store excess zinc, it must be consumed regularly as part of the diet.

Zinc deficiency can cause short stature, reduced ability to taste food, and the inability of testes and ovaries to function properly.

The element was probably named by the alchemist Paracelsus after the German word Zinke (prong, tooth). German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is credited with discovering pure metallic zinc in 1746. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta uncovered the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800