LivHealthy

What is Zinc?

Zinc is a mineral that is an essential component of over twenty enzymes associated with many different metabolic processes. It is needed for a healthy immune system and wound healing. Zinc also protects the liver from chemical damage.

Zinc is necessary for taste and smell, which may explain why a change in the ability to taste foods is often a sign of zinc deficiency. This may also be accompanied by similar changes in the ability to smell. Foods may have no taste or smell at all or taste or smell unpleasant.

Zinc Food Sources: 
Meat 
Poultry (particularly dark meat) 
Fish & other seafood (particularly oysters) 
Liver 
Eggs 
Legumes 
Whole Grains

Approximately 73 percent of zinc is removed from whole grains during the milling process that produces white flour. The flour is then "enriched" again with vitamins that have been stripped out, but not zinc.

The biological availability of zinc in foods varies. It is estimated that as little as 40 percent of zinc is actually absorbed by the body.

Source: 
The Real Vitamin & Mineral Book- Using Supplements for Optimal Health (2nd Edition), by Dr. Shari Lieberman, PhD and Nancy Bruning. Published by Avery Publishing Group, New York in 1997.