Zinc supplements reduce the incidence of infection in elderly patients

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I take 50 mg a day of zinc plus 3 mg of copper. I find that if I do not, I get more colds and fever bisters. Zinc has also shown to increase testosterone and block some of the negative effects of DHT, the bad metabolite of testosterone.

March 13, 2007 — Zinc supplements reduce the incidence of infection in elderly patients, according to the results of a small, randomized, double-blind trial reported in the March issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Zinc deficiency, cell-mediated immune dysfunction, susceptibility to infections, and increased oxidative stress have been observed in elderly subjects (ie, those > 55 y old)," write Ananda S. Prasad, from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, and colleagues. "Zinc is an effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent."

At a senior center, a group of 49 healthy adults aged 55 to 87 years and inclusive of all ethnicities were randomized to zinc supplementation (zinc gluconate, 45 mg of elemental zinc per day) or placebo orally for 12 months. Outcome measures included incidence of infections during the study; generation of inflammatory cytokines, T helper 1 and T helper 2 cytokines, and oxidative stress markers; and plasma concentrations of zinc at baseline and after supplementation.

Compared with a group of younger adults, the older subjects had significantly lower baseline levels of plasma zinc, higher ex vivo generation of inflammatory cytokines and interleukin 10, and higher plasma oxidative stress markers and endothelial cell adhesion molecules.

Compared with the placebo group, the zinc-supplemented group had a significantly lower incidence of infections and ex vivo generation of tumor necrosis factor–alpha and plasma oxidative stress markers, and significantly higher plasma zinc and phytohemagglutin-induced interleukin 2 messenger RNA in isolated mononuclear cells.

The main limitation of this study is the small sample size.

"After zinc supplementation, the incidence of infections was significantly lower, plasma zinc was significantly higher, and generation of tumor necrosis factor alpha and oxidative stress markers was significantly lower in the zinc-supplemented than in the placebo group," the authors write. "We hope that our results will stimulate larger zinc trials in the elderly."

The National Institutes of Health and Labcatal Laboratories (Paris, France) supported this study. None of the authors have disclosed any relevant financial relationships.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;85:837-844.

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The effect of exhaustion exercise on thyroid hormones and testosterone levels of elite athletes receiving oral zinc.

Kilic M, Baltaci AK, Gunay M, Gokbel H, Okudan N, Cicioglu I.

Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2006 Feb-Apr;27(1-2):247-52.

School of Physical Education and Sports, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey. kmkilic@...

OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to investigate how exhaustion exercise affects thyroid hormones and testosterone levels in elite athletes who are supplemented with oral zinc sulfate for 4 weeks. METHODS: The study included 10 male wrestlers, who had been licensed wrestlers for at least 6 years. Mean age of the wrestlers who volunteered in the study was 18.70 +/- 2.4 years. All subjects were supplemented with oral zinc sulfate (3 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks in addition to their normal diet. Thyroid hormone and testosterone levels of all subjects were determined as resting and exhaustion before and after zinc supplementation. RESULTS: Resting TT3, TT4, FT3, FT4 and TSH levels of subjects were higher than the parameters measured after exhaustion exercise before zinc supplementation (p<0.05). Both resting and exhaustion TT3, TT4 and FT3 values after 4-week zinc supplementation were found significantly higher than both of the parameters (resting and exhaustion) measured before zinc supplementation (p<0.05). Resting total testosterone and free testosterone levels before zinc supplementation were significantly higher than exhaustion levels before zinc supplementation (p<0.05). Both resting and exhaustion total and free testosterone levels following 4-week zinc supplementation were found significantly higher than the levels (both resting and exhaustion) measured before zinc supplementation (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Findings of our study demonstrate that exhaustion exercise led to a significant inhibition of both thyroid hormones and testosterone concentrations, but that 4-week zinc supplementation prevented this inhibition in wrestlers. In conclusion, physiological doses of zinc administration may benefit performance.

Relationship of serum and seminal plasma zinc levels and serum testosterone in oligospermic and azoospermic infertile men.

Ali H, Baig M, Rana MF, Ali M, Qasim R, Khem AK.

J Coll Physicians Surg Pak. 2005 Nov;15(11):671-3.

Department of Biochemistry, Baqai Medical University, Karachi. dr_hasanali@...

OBJECTIVE: To measure the zinc level in fertile and infertile population and to find out relationship of serum and seminal plasma zinc levels and serum testosterone in oligospermic and azoospermic infertile men. DESIGN: Comparative study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The Infertility Clinic, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC), Karachi, from January 2002-July 2003. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-eight primary infertile male subjects, without any treatment, who had regular unprotected intercourse for at least 12 months without conception with their partners, aged 20-40 years, having normal and regular menstrual cycles without any uterine pathology or hormonal disturbance were selected from Infertile Clinic, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi. After semen analyses, they were grouped as, oligospermic (30), and azoospermic (28). Twentyfive known fertile male selected from general population (their spouse had given birth to a child within one year) and after semen analysis were taken as normospermic control group . Semen analyzed according to WHO criteria and serum and seminal plasma zinc was estimated by 5Br. PAPS colorimetric method. Serum testosterone, LH, and FSH were measured by ELISA, using kits supplied by Diagnostic System Laboratories (DSL), U.S.A. RESULTS: The mean value for testosterone was significantly low in oligospermic, (8.04 -/+ 0.76) and azoospermic subjects (7.14 -/+ 0.27) as compared to normospermic (9.90 -/+ 0.14) control groups (p<0.05, p<0.001 respectively), serum LH (p<0.05, p<0.001 respectively) and FSH (p<0.05) were significantly higher than normospermic control group. Serum and seminal plasma zinc levels was low in oligospermic, and azoospermic subjects when compared with normospermic control groups (p<0.05, p<0.001 respectively). This suggests its involvement in spermatogenesis and infertility in such patients. Seminal zinc level has weak correlation with testosterone in oligospermic (r=0.44, p<0.05) and with serum zinc in azoospermic subjects (r=0.49, p<0.05) while no correlation was observed with LH and FSH in all the groups. CONCLUSION: In this study, there was significant decrease in serum and seminal plasma zinc levels in oligospermic and azoospermic infertile males with significantly low androgen. It indicates zinc has a possible role for spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis. Therefore, zinc concentration in seminal plasma should be considered as one of the factors responsible for decreased testicular function in infertile male subjects.

THIS ONE DOES NOT THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA:

Zinc for prostate disease and other conditions: a little evidence, a lot of hype, and a significant potential problem.

Moyad MA.

Urol Nurs. 2004 Feb;24(1):49-52.

University of Michigan Medical Center-Dept. of Urology, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Dietary and supplemental zinc, especially in excess, has received much attention in numerous alternative medicine resources. There is a small amount of medical evidence that zinc may alleviate some mostly rare medical conditions (such as 's disease). However, in prostate conditions, such as BPH, large concentrations of zinc are found in the prostate gland. Excess intake of zinc, especially with individual supplements, has the potential to encourage the growth of prostate conditions from BPH to cancer. In fact, one large study found a significantly higher risk of advanced prostate cancer in men consuming large intakes of these supplements. Large doses of zinc can inhibit the benefits of bisphosphonate drugs, increase testosterone level, increase cholesterol, reduce levels of "good cholesterol" or HDL, and can promote immune dysfunction. More research is needed in this area, but in the meantime, the time seems more than ripe to discourage or immediately discontinue the intake of larger concentrations of zinc for most individuals until adequate research resolves this controversial issue.

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