Zinc may reduce pneumonia risk in nursing home elderly

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Public release date: 22-Oct-2007

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/tuhs-zmr102207.php

Contact: Grossman

Tufts University, Health Sciences

Zinc may reduce pneumonia risk in nursing home elderly

BOSTON — When elderly nursing home residents contract pneumonia, it is a

blow to their already fragile health. Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD of

the Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts

University and colleagues report that maintaining normal serum zinc

concentration in the blood may help reduce the risk of pneumonia

development in that population.

“Based on our data, it appears that daily zinc intake can help nursing

home residents who are susceptible to pneumonia, especially those with

low serum zinc concentrations in their blood,” says Meydani,

corresponding author and director of the Nutritional Immunology

Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA . “The study participants with normal serum

zinc concentrations in their blood reduced their risk of developing

pneumonia by about 50 percent. Additionally, deaths from all causes were

39 percent lower in this group.”

Meydani and colleagues analyzed blood samples from a previous study that

investigated the role of Vitamin E in preventing respiratory infections

in nursing home residents ages 65 and older. The study enrolled 617 men

and women from 33 nursing homes in the Boston area. All of the

participants received daily supplements containing 50 percent of the

recommended dietary allowance of several vitamins and minerals,

including zinc, for one year. Foods that provide zinc include oysters,

red meat, poultry, whole grains, beans and dairy products.

In the present study, published in the October issue of the American

Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the authors compared blood samples

collected at the beginning and the conclusion of the one-year study. The

participants whose serum zinc concentrations remained low throughout

that 12-month period had more difficulty battling pneumonia. “Not only

did those participants have a higher risk of developing pneumonia when

they did become sick, they did not recover as quickly and required a

longer course of antibiotics,” says Meydani, who is also a professor at

the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Sackler

School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, both at Tufts University. “We

also noted a higher rate of death from all causes.”

Maintaining normal serum zinc concentration in the blood throughout the

12-month study period benefited the participants even if they did

develop pneumonia. Meydani adds, “Those participants with normal serum

zinc concentrations in their blood were more likely to spend fewer days

on antibiotics and recover more quickly.”

Meydani and colleagues conclude that zinc may reduce the risk of

pneumonia, and its associated complications in nursing home residents.

“Zinc is already known to strengthen the immune system; however, there

needs to be further investigation of zinc and its effect on pneumonia

development and prevention in nursing homes,” Meydani says. “The next

step would likely be a clinical trial.”

###

The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Service and by grants from the National Institutes

of Health and, for the preparation of the study capsules, Hoffmann-La

Roche Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division (currently DSM Nutritional

Products).

Meydani SM, , Barnett JB, Dallal ,GE, Fine BC, Jacques PF, Leka LD, and

Hamer, DH .

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2007: 86: 1167-1173. “Serum zinc

and pneumonia in nursing home elderly”.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, or speaking

with a faculty member at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and

Policy at Tufts University, or another Tufts health sciences researcher,

please contact Grossman at or Fennelly at

.

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