What Is Zinc & What Foods Can I Find It In?
Zinc is an essential trace mineral that we can't do without. Your body can't store zinc, so you must get a steady supply from your diet.
Zinc deficiency is a worldwide problem. It leads to numerous negative consequences for your health.
For instance, having zinc deficiency showed that it affects immunological development in the newborn in ways that compromise immune function throughout the lifespan.
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Zinc Is An Essential Mineral
Zinc is an essential mineral that is involved in numerous aspects of cellular metabolism. (source ◳)
A daily intake of zinc is required to maintain a steady level because the body has no specialized zinc storage system. (source ◳)
Zinc possesses many health benefits. You can find them in Zinc, Zn: 11 Research-Backed Benefits .
Zinc Deficiency
Zinc deficiency is a large malnutrition problem worldwide. It is highest in areas where there are high cereal and low animal food consumption. (source ◳)
There are severe negative consequences of zinc deficiency on human health in especially developing countries. (source ◳)
It is estimated that 40% of children in developing countries are zinc deficient.
The inadequate levels of zinc in the diet come from limited access to zinc-rich foods. Like animal products, oysters and shellfish.
But also because of the abundance of zinc inhibitors that are common in plant-based diets. (source ◳)
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Symptomps of zink deficiensy
Zinc deficiency has been linked to a wide variety of conditions.
Examples of symptoms:
- Anemia
- Poor appetite
- Growth retardation
- Immune system dysfunction
- Reproductive problems
Zinc deficiency has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of various chronic diseases.
Examples of diseases:
- Diabetes mellitus
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular disease
- Osteoporosis
- Alzheimer's disease
How To Get Enough Zinc?
Oysters contain more zinc per serving than any other food. You can also find it in other types of seafood.
But red meat and poultry provide the majority of zinc in many diets.
Other food sources containing zinc are beans, nuts, whole grains, and dairy products. (source ◳)
But due to zinc inhibitors, there are harder to get adequate zinc levels from the zinc containing plants. (source ◳)
Plenty Of Zinc Supplements Available
There are a lot of zinc supplements available to choose from.
The trick is to know which one to buy.
We've written a whole article about what zinc supplements we think are of the highest quality.
You will find it in Recommended Zinc Supplements
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Foods You Can Find Zinc In
You find zinc mostly in seafood, breakfast cereal, and sauce and gravy products.
Examples of food sources include
- Canned Oysters
- Cooked Wild Eastern Oyster
- Ralston Enriched Wheat Bran Flakes
- All-Bran Wheat Flakes
- Kellogg's Product 19
- General Mills Total
Foods in our nutrition tool
You can find regularly updated, top ranked lists of foods for over 200+ nutrients in our nutrition tool.
If you are interested in what foods contain the most zinc, we recommend you visit our tool.
Here's our top ranked list of foods that contain Zinc, Zn.