• zinc balances your blood sugar
• zinc boosts your immune system
• zinc supports your smell and taste sensitivity

Reasons good enough to eat zinc rich foods, aren’t they?

How do you know if you have zinc deficiency?

You might have zinc deficiency if you notice some of the following symptoms:

• impaired sense of taste and/or smell
• constant or frequent (skin) infections (not necessary acne, but acne are also often in connection with zinc deficiency)
• constant or frequent colds
• if you notice appetite loss
• growth retardation in children
• depression
• in more severe cases, zinc deficiency causes hair loss, diarrhea, lack of sexual development in males, hypogonadism in males, and eye and skin lesions

Although zinc is often poorly absorbed by human body (only a mere 15%-40% of the zinc actually gets absorbed by your body overall, which is especially true for non-meat zinc food sources) overdosing with zinc is also possible, especially if you consume zinc supplements and/or zinc enriched cereals in high amounts.

Symptoms of zinc overdose include stomach pain, vomiting, nausea, and cramping. Important indicator of zinc toxicity is metallic and bitter taste in the mouth.

Recommended daily allowance of zinc intake is approximately 11 mg for adult males and 8 mg for females (11 mg during pregnancy and 12 during lactation).

Connection between Zinc and Fertility

Studies prove there is a connection between zinc and fertility, also zinc is one of the most widely researched nutrients in connection with fertility, not only for women, but men too. Its role is to attract or more scientifically expressed utilize efficiently reproductive hormones, both progesterone and oestrogen. Therefore zinc is very important component of genetic material, and when people have problems with zinc deficiency, this can potentially cause chromosome changes in either males or females, contributing to (in)fertility problems and increased risk of miscarriage during first trimester of pregnancy.

Most often zinc is connected to male fertility for a good reason: zinc deficiency is one of the main causes of male infertility. Zinc is also one of the minerals that are found in high concentration in (healthy) sperm – it is essentially important for healthy sperm because it is used to create the sperm cell. Without proper amounts of zinc in sperm, the sperm cell can malfunction or not swim properly – zinc deficiency causes sperm abnormalities, such as reduced sperm count and abnormalities in sperm motility.