The most important sentence in the paper by Roger Shrimpton and
colleagues (1) is, “Zinc deficiency has been known for 40 years but
ignored by global health organizations.”
This was the title of the BMJ editorial (2) by Professor Ananda S
Prasad, published in 2003.
Prof Prasad was not totally ignored. His work on zinc in the 1960s
was picked up by Carl C Pfeiffer, of the Brain Bio Center, in Princeton,
New Jersey, and referenced in his book “Mental and Elemental Nutrients”
published in 1975 (3).
I didn’t “discover” zinc until 1978 when as a medical journalist I
interviewed Pfeiffer when he visited London. I reported his work in UK
hospital and general practice medical publications as well in health
magazines. However, in 1978 few doctors were interested in a dietary or
nutritional approach to disease.
I introduced zinc supplementation into my Naturopathic medical
practice without delay and so have now had 27 years’ clinical experience
with it.
There is no doubt that zinc deficiency underlies much disease in both
western and “third world” countries.
Early on I used supplements like zinc sulphate and zinc gluconate. These
do produce an improvement in some conditions. But because they are poorly
absorbed the overall results can be disappointing. Also they can be used
for only a limited time because of the possibility of copper depletion.
It is the use of poorly-absorbed supplements that leads to conflicting
research results (e.g. on zinc and the common cold).
Any major programme of supplementation over and above dietary
adjustments would achieve far better results with food state zinc (which
comes complete with all the food components required for absorption, plus
it contains 1mg food state copper).
Laboratory tests for zinc status may be necessary only in those who
do not appear to respond to supplementation (zinc is not absorbed equally
by all people), and when dealing with infections I would suggest checking
the leucocyte zinc level.
In my humble opinion a white cell without enough zinc is a very
sloppy operator.
I felt obliged to report the importance of food state zinc to the BMJ
in 2001 (3) and do hope it has not been totally ignored.
1. Shrimpton R, Gross R, Darnton-Hill I, Young M. Zinc deficiency:
what are the most appropriate interventions? BMJ 2005; 330:347-349 (12
February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7487.347.
2. Prasad AS.BMJ 2003; 326: 409-10.
3. Mental and Elemental Nutrients, Carl C Pfeiffer, Ph MD, Keats
Publishing, Inc. New Canaan, Connecticut, 1975. ISBN 0-87983-114-6.
4. Rapid Responses: David Potterton, Which zinc?
bmj.com/cgi/eletters/323/7308/314#15992, 10 Aug 2001
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
13 February 2005
David Potterton ND MRN MNIMH
Naturopath/Medical journalist/Editor, British Naturopathic Journal
Rapid Response:
All zincs are not equal
The most important sentence in the paper by Roger Shrimpton and colleagues (1) is, “Zinc deficiency has been known for 40 years but ignored by global health organizations.”
This was the title of the BMJ editorial (2) by Professor Ananda S Prasad, published in 2003.
Prof Prasad was not totally ignored. His work on zinc in the 1960s was picked up by Carl C Pfeiffer, of the Brain Bio Center, in Princeton, New Jersey, and referenced in his book “Mental and Elemental Nutrients” published in 1975 (3).
I didn’t “discover” zinc until 1978 when as a medical journalist I interviewed Pfeiffer when he visited London. I reported his work in UK hospital and general practice medical publications as well in health magazines. However, in 1978 few doctors were interested in a dietary or nutritional approach to disease.
I introduced zinc supplementation into my Naturopathic medical practice without delay and so have now had 27 years’ clinical experience with it.
There is no doubt that zinc deficiency underlies much disease in both western and “third world” countries. Early on I used supplements like zinc sulphate and zinc gluconate. These do produce an improvement in some conditions. But because they are poorly absorbed the overall results can be disappointing. Also they can be used for only a limited time because of the possibility of copper depletion. It is the use of poorly-absorbed supplements that leads to conflicting research results (e.g. on zinc and the common cold).
Any major programme of supplementation over and above dietary adjustments would achieve far better results with food state zinc (which comes complete with all the food components required for absorption, plus it contains 1mg food state copper).
Laboratory tests for zinc status may be necessary only in those who do not appear to respond to supplementation (zinc is not absorbed equally by all people), and when dealing with infections I would suggest checking the leucocyte zinc level.
In my humble opinion a white cell without enough zinc is a very sloppy operator.
I felt obliged to report the importance of food state zinc to the BMJ in 2001 (3) and do hope it has not been totally ignored.
1. Shrimpton R, Gross R, Darnton-Hill I, Young M. Zinc deficiency: what are the most appropriate interventions? BMJ 2005; 330:347-349 (12 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7487.347.
2. Prasad AS.BMJ 2003; 326: 409-10.
3. Mental and Elemental Nutrients, Carl C Pfeiffer, Ph MD, Keats Publishing, Inc. New Canaan, Connecticut, 1975. ISBN 0-87983-114-6.
4. Rapid Responses: David Potterton, Which zinc? bmj.com/cgi/eletters/323/7308/314#15992, 10 Aug 2001
Competing interests: None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests