A must see – Zinc

Medical studies and quotes are included in this page so that you can print out this document through your web browser and bring the print out to your doctor for consultation. Nothing contained in this article advocates self medication while going through treatment.

Zinc is an essential mineral that is naturally present in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. Zinc is also found in many cold lozenges and some over-the-counter drugs sold as cold remedies.

Zinc is involved in numerous aspects of cellular metabolism. It is required for the catalytic activity of approximately 100 enzymes [1,2] and it plays a role in immune function [3,4], protein synthesis [4], wound healing [5], DNA synthesis [2,4], and cell division [4]. Zinc also supports normal growth and development during pregnancy, childhood, and adolescence [6–8] and is required for proper sense of taste and smell [9]. A daily intake of zinc is required to maintain a steady state because the body has no specialized zinc storage system [10].

For full information regarding this supplement go to http://ods.od.nih.gov/FactSheets/Zinc.asp

Zinc Tip from an Oncology Nurse

Here is a tip from a retired oncology nurse, regarding zinc and its effects for cancer patients. “Ask her physician about giving your daughter zinc as a potential appetite stimulant. Chemotherapy tends to lower zinc levels in the body, which is what helps us to appreciate the taste of food. We had noticed that with adult patients, the sense of taste had actually improved, (from taking a zinc supplement) but sometimes fatigue would still lower overall interest in eating.”

I decided to try this for my daughter Kayla because she has lost about five pounds since she started treatment ten months ago. She has also grown several inches and looks very thin to me. The day she took this supplement her appetite increased markedly. She also had better taste and did not throw away any food. This was a dramatic improvement in a very short amount of time.

Leukemia Study with Zinc

Recently I was going through Leukemia studies and found a study that was done using zinc supplementation for a little girl (3 years old) with leukemia. Here is the complete medical abstract.

Treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia using zinc adjuvant with chemotherapy and radiation – a case history and hypothesis.

Low blood levels of zinc are often noted in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), but zinc is not administered as part of any modern chemotherapy program in the treatment of ALL. Upon noting low blood levels of zinc in a 3-year-old 11.3 kg girl, zinc at the rate of 3.18 mgs a day was administered from the start of chemotherapy through the full 3 years of maintenance therapy. Dosage was split with 18 mg given at breakfast and 18 mg zinc with supper. The result was a bone marrow remission from 95+% blast cells to an observed zero blast cell count in both hips within the first 14 days of treatment which never relapsed. In addition to the reduction of blast cells to an observed count of zero (not a single leukemic or normal blast), red blood cell production and other hemopoietic functions [ formation of blood or blood cells] returned to normal at a clinically remarkable rate. There were no side effects from zinc or chemotherapy at any time, and zinc is hypothesized to have improved the patient’s overall ability to withstand toxic effects of chemotherapy. This report identifies zinc treatment as being vital to rapid and permanent recovery from ALL. (Bolded print is my emphasis not the author’s.) The extremely broad role of zinc in pre-leukemic adverse health conditions, viral, fungal and tumoral immunity, hemopoietics, cell growth, division and differentiation, genetics and chemotherapy interactions are considered. If a nutrient such as zinc could be shown to strengthen the function of chemotherapy and immune function, then it could be hypothesized that the relapse rate would be lessened since the relapse rate is related to both the rate at which a remission is obtained and the thoroughness of the elimination leukemic blasts. Identical results also occurred in 13 other children with ALL whose parents chose to treat with zinc adjuvant. [The Latin "adjuvans" means to help, particularly to reach a goal.] Since treatment with zinc and other identified deficient nutrients, particularly magnesium, did not appear unjurious in ALL and they appear to be highly beneficial, controlled clinical studies of zinc (3.18 mg/kg body weight/day) with magnesium (8.0 mg/kg body weight/day) as adjuvants to chemotherapy in the treatment of childhood ALL are suggested. Treatment with zinc adjuvant is hypothesized to accelerate recovery from ALL, and in conjunction with chemotherapy, cure ALL. [11] Eby GA.

http://george-eby-research.com/

The above link has quite a lot of information on zinc and its therapeutic uses.

Okay, that said, I put my daughter Kayla on zinc the same day I read this information and we have continued ever since. The author mentions viral, fungal, tumoral and immune factors in this report. One could then suppose that zinc supplementation could also be used to prevent these other conditions.

Additional Zinc Information

Zinc is a trace element that is essential for human health. When people absorb too little zinc they can experience a loss of appetite, decreased sense of taste and smell, slow wound healing and skin sores. Zinc-shortages can even cause birth defects.  

Although humans can handle proportionally large concentrations of zinc, too much zinc can still cause eminent health problems, such as stomach cramps, skin irritations, vomiting, nausea and anaemia. Very high levels of zinc can damage the pancreas and disturb the protein metabolism, and cause arteriosclerosis. Extensive exposure to zinc chloride can cause respiratory disorders. [12]

Please remember that I am not a doctor nor medically trained in any way. This page is set up for you to be able to print out this document and take it to your medical doctor for approval so that you are not self medicating.

Where to purchase zinc

Zinc can be purchased at health food stores, online, and also at grocery stores. The National Institutes of Health has a fact sheet regarding this vitamin along with a dosage chart. Do not take mega dosages of ANY supplements, especially if you are currently undergoing treatment. If your body is deficient of this and other nutrients it is far better to take a standard dose than a high dose. Think of it as giving the body what it needs on a slow ongoing basis. This is far more therapeutic than overwhelming and ill body with large amounts of nutrients that will cause physical distress such as stomach cramping, vomiting, nausea, etc. Cancer patients already experience nausea and other discomforts, do not add to these in any way.

Puritans Pride has several different zinc products. A word of warning – a local pharmacist warned that zinc tastes terrible in the chewable. Liquid and capsules are fine. Here is the link to affordably priced zinc supplements http://www.puritan.com/zinc-166

No one can predict allergies or reactions so always play it safe and talk to your doctor first before doing anything.

Please promote this information to any cancer patients that you know. If I had known about this I would have gotten my daughter onto zinc as soon as she was diagnosed and maybe she would not have ended up with Minimal Residual Disease. (MRD is the designation when after a regimen of chemo the cancer does not fully disappear. In other words there is still cancer in the body even if it is in minimal amounts). Because of MRD her length of time on heavy chemo was doubled and the chemo dosages increased. Maybe, if I had known about zinc soon enough, this could have been prevented. I am the type that I would have really pushed this issue with our doctors because if it has been beneficial to 13 patients, why not give it a try? What is there to lose?

Good Luck.

~

References

1. Sandstead HH. Understanding zinc: recent observations and interpretations. J Lab Clin Med 1994;124:322-7. [PubMed abstract]

2. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.

3. Solomons NW. Mild human zinc deficiency produces an imbalance between cell-mediated and humoral immunity. Nutr Rev 1998;56:27-8. [PubMed abstract]

4. Prasad AS. Zinc: an overview. Nutrition 1995;11:93-9. [PubMed abstract]

5. Heyneman CA. Zinc deficiency and taste disorders. Ann Pharmacother 1996;30:186-7. [PubMed abstract]

6. Simmer K, Thompson RP. Zinc in the fetus and newborn. Acta Paediatr Scand Suppl 1985;319:158-63. [PubMed abstract]

7. Fabris N, Mocchegiani E. Zinc, human diseases and aging. Aging (Milano) 1995;7:77-93. [PubMed abstract]

8. Maret W, Sandstead HH. Zinc requirements and the risks and benefits of zinc supplementation. J Trace Elem Med Biol 2006;20:3-18. [PubMed abstract]

9. Prasad AS, Beck FW, Grabowski SM, Kaplan J, Mathog RH. Zinc deficiency: changes in cytokine production and T-cell subpopulations in patients with head and neck cancer and in noncancer subjects. Proc Assoc Am Physicians 1997;109:68-77. [PubMed abstract]

10.Rink L, Gabriel P. Zinc and the immune system. Proc Nutr Soc 2000; 59:541-52. [PubMed abstract]

11. Treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia using zinc adjuvant with chemotherapy and radiation-a case history and hypothesis. Eby GA Med Hypotheses. 2005;64(6):1124-6.

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