Zinc in diet

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Overview

Food Sources

Recommendations

Side Effects

Zinc in diet

Alternative Names:

Diet - zinc

Side Effects:

Symptoms associated with zinc deficiency include the following:

Slow growth
Poor appetite
Decrease in wound healing
Loss of hair
Impaired sense of taste
Impaired sense of smell
Hypogonadism in males
More frequent infections
Inability or difficulty in adapting vision to the dark
Various skin lesions

Zinc is one of the least toxic of the trace elements. Zinc supplements in large amounts (for example, 70 to 100 times the recommended amount) may cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and vomiting, usually occurring within 3 to 10 hours of ingestion of the supplements. The symptoms diminish within a short period of time after the discontinuation of the supplements.

Review Date: 10/27/2004
Reviewed By: Kevin Pho, M.D., Attending, Internal Medicine, Boston VA Medical Center, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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