Zinc is one of the micronutrients that play an important role in our body. However, each stage of human development will need to provide a different amount of zinc. In case the body has too much zinc, it will lead to related diseases.
1. What role does zinc play in our body?
Zinc is one of the indispensable minerals for the body, playing an important role in biochemical processes taking place inside the body. Zinc not only helps the body balance blood sugar levels, but also helps to slow down the body’s metabolic rate to avoid the impact on the process of dividing and synthesizing DNA.
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In addition, zinc also helps strengthen the body’s resistance to withstand the bad effects of the external environment. This micronutrient is also an ingredient for wound healing, fertility, fertility, cell growth, and bone health.
You may not know, zinc is also a micronutrient to perform the function of smell, taste and create a feeling of appetite.
2. What foods contain a lot of zinc?
Some foods containing a lot of zinc can be mentioned as oysters, herring, red meat, pumpkin seeds, lentils, spinach … In which oysters are the food that is said to contain the most zinc content.
In order for the body to absorb the best amount of zinc from food, we need to chew it thoroughly. Besides, the zinc supplements are also very easily absorbed in the mouth. According to health experts, the amount of zinc needed to supplement the normal human body is about 40 mg per day for the body to develop .
Each age will need to provide a different amount of zinc depending on the stage of development. The amount of zinc needed for each age is as follows:
– Children under 6 months: 2 mg of zinc/day
– Children from 7 to 12 months old: 3 mg of zinc / 1 day
– Children from 4 to 8 years old: 5mg zinc/day
– Men 9-13 years old: 8 mg of zinc/day
– Men over 14 years old: 11 mg of zinc/day
Women over 19 years old: 8 mg of zinc/day
– Pregnant women: 11-12 mg of zinc/day
– Women who are breastfeeding: 11-12 mg of zinc/day
3. Some manifestations of zinc excess .
If we provide too much zinc to the body, it will lead to an excess of zinc. And when there is excess zinc, the body will have some symptoms as follows:
– Nausea: When supplementing with necessary zinc residues, the body will experience nausea, vomiting, and belching many times. That is also the reason that when using cold medicine, we immediately feel nauseated, because cold medicine contains up to 225mg of zinc. And according to many studies around the world, for every 47 people who take 15 mg of zinc a day, half of them will have nausea and vomiting several times a day. Nausea and vomiting will help us reduce excess zinc, but it also leaves serious complications, so patients need to go to a medical facility for timely treatment.
Abdominal pain and diarrhea: Digestive problems are also indicative of excess zinc. Some household items such as adhesives, cleaning chemicals contain zinc chloride, so if you get zinc poisoning from these causes with zinc content greater than 20%, you will experience the above digestive problems. .
– Frequent bitter mouth: This is the most obvious manifestation of excess zinc and is also the cause of loss of appetite and loss of taste.
Flu: Taking too much zinc during the day can cause flu symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, and headache. However, the above symptoms are similar to mineral poisoning, so they need to be differentiated carefully.
– Low HDL cholesterol: HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol for the body, which is responsible for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and preventing atherosclerosis, with an amount greater than 40mg/dL. When we supplement 50mgr of zinc a day will lower HDL levels and increase the amount of bad cholesterol is LDL, as a result, will increase the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases.
– Lack of copper: According to research, copper is a substance that competes with zinc for the opportunity to be absorbed into the small intestine.