Zinc: Essential for a robust immune system

Here are the recommendations for daily zinc intake:

• The recommended zinc intake is 8 milligrams per day for women and 14 milligrams per day for men.
• Pregnant women should consume 9 milligrams of zinc per day; from the fourth month onwards it is 11 milligrams daily.
• Breastfeeding women require 13 milligrams per day (this can also be easily met with normal foods).

Warning about zinc overdose!

In general, optimal zinc intake is achieved through a balanced diet that also includes meat and other animal products. The advantage: a zinc overdose that could have harmful effects is not possible through diet alone. However, one should be cautious with zinc supplements: it is easy to exceed the maximum dose of zinc preparations if taken excessively. In adults, for example, this is 40 milligrams per day. Excessive amounts of zinc can cause, among other things, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps and impairment of the immune system.

Zinc in foods: Where is it found?

In general, zinc absorption from animal sources is more efficient for the body than from plant foods, because plants contain substances that can impair zinc absorption in the gut. Nevertheless, many plants are also good sources of zinc.

These animal products are excellent sources of zinc:

• Oysters (they have the highest zinc content)
• Meat (beef, poultry, pork)
• Sea fish and seafood
• Cheese, yoghurt and milk

These plant foods are rich in zinc:

• Beans and cereal products
• Nuts (such as cashews or pecans) as well as almonds
• Oats
• Peas
• Pumpkin seeds

Factors that can impair zinc absorption

Whole grains, cereals and vegetables are examples of plant foods that contain phytates. They can bind zinc and thus prevent the absorption of zinc from food. In this way, zinc in the diet is less available to the body.

A high phytate intake occurs when many non-sprouted or unfermented wholegrain products, such as fresh grain porridges, as well as many legumes, but little or no animal protein are consumed. In this case, zinc absorption in the gut can be reduced by up to 45 percent compared with a mixed diet. Therefore, people who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet should soak, sour, ferment or sprout zinc-rich wholegrains and legumes. This reduces the phytate content.  It is also advisable to include oilseeds and nuts (such as cashew and pecan nuts) and, if following an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet, eggs and dairy products in the diet.

It is pleasing to know: the zinc content in wholegrain products is high enough to make a good contribution to meeting requirements. For example, wholemeal bread (100 grams) contains 1.5 milligrams of zinc, while white bread in the same amount contains only 0.7 milligrams.

Digression: How people who fall for the promises of the advertising industry ruin their health with pseudo-wholemeal bread!

That the dark colour in many wholemeal breads comes only from baking malt and not from wholegrain may already be known to many customers. Especially to those who already prefer wholemeal bread from the organic shop.
Less well known is that not only poor ingredients, but also the time-saving dough preparation commonly used by many bakers today is bad for health.
If the wholemeal bread is also baked with sourdough, then a large part of the phytate is already broken down.
However, this only applies to truly good sourdough bread, such as from so-called Slow Food bakeries or the organic baker. There the bread is naturally soured over many hours, which provides enough time to break down naturally occurring harmful substances in rye.
"Normally", that is in the supermarket baker or, unfortunately, very often already in the bakery chain or at the supposedly artisanal baker, baking mixes are used, where the souring of the sourdough is simply achieved by adding acids - but this does not break down harmful substances such as phytates!
If the customer then has to go to the toilet more often, they think this comes from the healthy fibre in the supposedly healthy wholemeal bread - in truth, however, it is the result of a harmful effect of this "industrial bread".
Thus, the extra cost at the organic or Slow Food baker is not really expensive; it is rather to be seen that the bread from the supermarket or bakery chain is too cheap - in the worst sense of the word!

What happens with a zinc deficiency?

Signs of zinc deficiency are: skin eczema, hair loss, diarrhoea, impaired wound healing and an increased susceptibility to infectious diseases.

People with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and those with alcohol-related disorders are particularly at risk of zinc deficiency, because alcohol can impair zinc absorption. A vegetarian or vegan diet can lead to a higher intake of phytates and thus an increased risk of zinc deficiency.
Zinc supplements can help to correct a deficiency when zinc absorption is demonstrably inhibited, for example due to a hereditary disorder, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease or alcohol-related illness.