Zinc

[Guest guest]

I never realized zinc played a role in encephalopathy (I hate spelling

that word!) until today. Here is some information I found.

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Zinc:

In some studies, taking zinc supplements have lowered ammonia levels

in some patients who were zinc & #8722;deficient,a common problem in

cirrhosis. Zinc replacement may reduce frequency and severity of

muscle cramps and may even help protect against encephalopathy.

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Alcoholic liver cirrhosis is associated with zinc deficiency. In a

double-blind trial, zinc acetate supplementation (200 mg three times

daily, providing a total of 215 mg of elemental zinc per day), given

to cirrhosis patients for seven days, significantly improved

portal-systemic encephalopathy (PSE). A second trial achieved similar

results after three months of treatment. People with cirrhosis

sometimes have impaired taste function, and it has been suggested that

zinc deficiency may be the cause of this abnormality. Although one

study demonstrated that taste problems in cirrhosis are due to the

disease process itself and not to zinc deficiency, a double-blind

trial showed that 200 mg three times per day of zinc sulfate

(providing 135 mg of elemental zinc per day) for six weeks

significantly improved taste function in people with alcoholic liver

cirrhosis. A doctor should supervise long-term supplementation of zinc

in these amounts.

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zinc plays a role in muscle cramps. (My wife had severe muscle cramps

because of encephalopathy days before she died).

http://www.jacn.org/cgi/reprint/19/1/13.pdf

Understanding Encephalopathy

http://www.cpmc.org/learning/documents/encephalopathy-ws.html

P.S. Always seek your doctors advice before beginning a supplement.

MaC