Dietary Requirements For Zinc

Four components of dietary zinc recommendations were compiled by who 1 iom 2 and izincg 3 for a particular life stage and gender group.

Dietary requirements for zinc. It s recommended that men eat 11 mg of zinc per day while women need 8 mg. In people with mild zinc deficiency recommendations suggest taking two to three times the recommended dietary allowance rda of zinc for 6 months. In people with moderate to. The 2015 2020 dietary guidelines for americans recommend meeting daily zinc needs through diet.

People at risk of zinc deficiency or inadequacy need to include good sources of zinc in their daily diets. Efsa 4 set the first 3 components but has not yet set a. Your body doesn t store zinc so you need to eat enough every day to ensure you re meeting your daily requirements. When zinc deficiency does occur it is usually due to inadequate zinc intake or absorption increased losses of zinc from the body or increased requirements for zinc 29 30 37.

Zinc also helps form the structure of proteins and enzymes and is involved in the regulation of gene expression. The european food safety agency was the only expert group that set dietary zinc recommendations at 4 different levels of dietary phytate for adults but not for children and as of yet no tolerable upper inta. Average requirements ars for dietary zinc necessary to meet physiological requirements were estimated using saturation response modelling taking into account the inhibitory effect of dietary phytate on zinc absorption. Estimates for the physiological and dietary requirements varied across the 4 expert groups.

Severe deficiency can cause hair loss eye and skin problems diarrhea weight loss and hypogonadism and impotence in men deficiency may be due to a lack of zinc in the diet or problems with absorption. Zinc deficiency symptoms. Prs for absorbed zinc dietary zinc requirements recommended dietary allowances rdas and tolerable upper intake levels uls as shown below. Recommendations are based on measured requirements.

Mean daily dietary zinc intakes of populations from several countries range from 4 7 to 18 6 mg in the united states the third national health and nutrition examination survey nhanes iii reported median zinc intakes for whites blacks and hispanics of different ages and gender elderly aged 69 yr are apparently at increased risk of zinc. Zinc deficiency can result in loss of appetite impaired immune system function and slower growth in general.