What is Zinc ?

Zinc deficiency can severely impair immune system function.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "zinc-deficient persons experience increased susceptibility to a variety of pathogens."

According to the World Health Organization, diarrhea kills an astonishing 1.6 million children under 5 every year. Zinc pills may help reduce diarrhea.

A PLoS Medicine study, which "followed a nationwide public health campaign to increase zinc use for childhood diarrhea in Bangladesh," confirmed that a 10-day course of zinc tablets is effective at treating diarrhea and also helps prevent future bouts of the condition.

Zinc effects on learning and memory
Research conducted at the University of Toronto and published in the journal Neuron suggested that zinc has a crucial role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, affecting how memories are formed and how we learn.

Zinc to treat the common cold
Zinc lozenges were found to shorten the duration of common cold episodes by up to 40 percent in a study published in the Open Respiratory Medicine Journal.

In addition, a Cochrane review concluded that taking "zinc (lozenges or syrup) is beneficial in reducing the duration and severity of the common cold in healthy people, when taken within 24 hours of onset of symptoms."

Zinc's role in wound healing
Zinc plays a role in maintaining skin integrity and structure. Patients experiencing chronic wounds or ulcers often have deficient zinc metabolism and lower serum zinc levels. Zinc is often used in skin creams for treating diaper rash or other skin irritations.

A Swedish study that analysed zinc in wound healing concluded, "topical zinc may stimulate leg ulcer healing by enhancing re-epithelialization, decreasing inflammation and bacterial growth. When zinc is applied on wounds, it not only corrects a local zinc deficit but also acts pharmacologically."

However, research has not consistently shown that use of zinc sulfate in patients with chronic wounds or ulcers is effective at improving healing rate.

How does zinc help the body?

Zinc is found in cells throughout the body. It helps the immune system fight off invading bacteria and viruses.

The body also needs zinc to make proteins and DNA, the genetic material in all cells. ... Zinc also helps wounds heal and is important for proper senses of taste and smell....

What does zinc do for you sexually?

Zinc is a key mineral that cells use to metabolize nutrients. Immune function, DNA and protein production, and cell division are all related to zinc levels in the body.

Zinc also enables the male body to produce testosterone. Because of this, your levels of zinc may affect erectile dysfunction.

What is zinc?


ANSWER

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.

Discovered by Andreas Marggraf

Discovery date Identified as an element in 1746, but known to the Greeks and Romans before 20BC.

Zinc refining in China was carried out on a large scale by the 1500s. An East India Company ship which sank off the coast of Sweden in 1745 was carrying a cargo of Chinese zinc and analysis of reclaimed ingots showed them to be almost the pure metal.

In 1668, a Flemish metallurgist, P. Moras de Respour, reported the extraction of metallic zinc from zinc oxide...

But as far as Europe was concerned zinc was discovered by the German chemist Andreas Marggraf in 1746, and indeed he was the first to recognise it as a new metal....

Zinc was known to the Romans but rarely used.

It was first recognised as a metal in its own right in India and the waste from a zinc smelter at Zawar, in Rajasthan, testifies to the large scale on which it was refined during the period 1100 to the 1500.

In use, Zinc is often hidden away, almost secretive. It stops iron rusting, soothes sunburn, keeps dandruff at bay, combines with copper to make a very familiar gold-coloured alloy and keeps us alive, but we hardly notice it.

This blue-grey metal, known commercially as spelter, is anything but flashy and attention-grabbing. Even the origins of that evocative name are uncertain.

The dictionary tells us that the word zinc comes from the German (with a K at the end instead of a C), but how that name came into being is unknown. The earliest reference to zinc was in 1651.