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Q: What is zinc and why is it important for me?
A: Zinc is a naturally occurring essential mineral that seems to be involved in a wide range of actions in the human body. This is due to it being a nutritional substance that is likely to be utilized by almost all cells of your body. Zinc is an essential component of various enzymes and is involved in the function or manufacturing of more than 200 of them.
Q: Why the current wide interest in zinc?
A: Zinc has been investigated over many years for its possible anti-viral effects, and this has recently become known to more people lately because people want to know how to keep themselves healthy against viral infections. Medical researchers from the Molecular Virology Laboratory at the Department of Medical Microbiology, Leiden University explain that the replication of a plentitude of viruses can be stopped when zinc concentrations force a correction of proteolytic processing of viral polyproteins.
Q: Are there any side effects associated with zinc supplementation?
A: Negative effects of zinc will only be experienced if it is taken in excessive amounts, especially if it’s in an inorganic form like zinc sulphate, which is a form of zinc associated with gastric irritation in large amounts. Too much zinc can upset the levels of other important minerals.
Q: So, there are different forms of zinc?
A: Yes.
Q: Does the body differentiate between them?
A: Absolutely. Absorption rates and where it finally ends up in the body is affected by the form in which the body receives it. Various forms are well absorbed, especially the chelates and the organic plant-based forms.
Q: Which foods are rich sources of natural form zinc?
A: It is found in a wide variety of foods, notably oysters, liver, egg yolk, ginger, almonds, pecan nuts, parsley, chicken, sunflower seeds, oats, tuna, sardines, pumpkin seeds, mushrooms and meats.
Q: Are there other benefits of getting adequate levels of zinc?
A: Yes, like skin healing, prostate health and many more.
Q: Is zinc the only natural substance that has been shown to exert anti-viral effects?
A: Not at all.
