What ’ s the story with zinc?

In the several decades since the need for dietary zinc was discovered, it has proven to be far more important to overall health than initially thought. And deficiency is proving to be common. You may recall that the phytates of wheat and grains block nearly all absorption of dietary zinc, along with blocking iron, calcium, and magnesium (all positively-charged cations). Just as iron deficiency anemia with hemoglobin values of 7 or 8 g/dl resistant to iron supplementation commonly develops in grain-consuming populations, so a parallel zinc deficiency also develops (although not well reflected by blood levels of zinc, which underestimates tissue levels). Zinc appears to be nearly as important to overall health as iron. You can also appreciate that there is no shortage of conventional health advice to correct what is nothing more than nutritional deficiencies caused by grain consumption: women take calcium for bone health (a very bad idea), the varied phenomena of magnesium deficiency (e.g., migraine headaches, hypertension, heart rhythm disorders, osteoporosis) are managed with prescription drugs, etc. Zinc deficiency likewise shows itself in many ways, rarely recognized as zinc deficiency but treated, for instance, as IBS, eczema, or pre-diabetes. Zinc, like magnesium, is an essential cofactor required for thousands of reactions in the body and thereby plays a crucial role in many aspects of health, with zinc deficiency evident in many varied ways. We now appreciate that zinc ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Undoctored Wheat Belly Lifestyle autoimmune gastrointestinal gluten gluten-free grain grain-free grains hormonal Inflammation phytates rash zinc Source Type: blogs