Best food groups: Meat, shellfish
Also consider: Baked beans, ricotta cheese, wheat germ, fortified cereal
What is zinc and why is it so important? The importance of zinc for human health was first identified and written about in 1963. Zinc is all about wound healing and bolstering your defenses—especially the immune system—and is an essential mineral in all stages of procreation, as well as promoting normal growth throughout the life cycle. It helps fight off troublesome bacteria and viruses while supporting and protecting DNA, the genetic computer code of your body. Zinc also contributes to your sense of taste and smell. Deficiencies in zinc may bring about growth retardation, loss of appetite, impaired immune function, hair loss, diarrhea, delayed sexual maturation, impotence and infertility, hypogonadism in males, eye and skin lesions, weight loss, delayed healing of wounds, taste abnormalities, and lethargy.
Did you know? Adequate zinc can be found in a balanced diet; however, for many Americans, balanced is a challenging concept, especially when it comes to diet and lifestyle behaviors. Vegetarians or those with digestive malabsorption may have a higher risk of developing a zinc deficiency.
Did you know?
Contrary to the popular belief that swallowing watermelon seeds whole will cause a melon to grow in your stomach, what they will do, if you chew them up, is provide such nutrients as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, protein, and zinc. A 1-ounce serving contains 3 mg of zinc.
How much is enough?
The DV for zinc is 15 mg, based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
The UL has been set at 40 mg per day for all adults. Although rare in a healthy population, toxicity cases have been reported. Short-term symptoms include nausea or vomiting, low appetite, diarrhea, and headache. Long-term symptoms include copper deficiency and reduced immune function.
Supplements: The most common form of zinc supplementation is as a tablet or capsule. Most multivitamins contain zinc. You can also find zinc in lozenge or syrup form, which may be particularly beneficial for reducing the duration and severity of the common cold if taken within 24 hours of onset of symptoms. A recent review of seventeen studies found that those who took zinc supplements knocked an average of three days off their cold!
1. Oysters
Including zinc-rich foods such as oysters in a healthy diet may play a role in fighting chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, depression, Wilson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other age-related diseases.
Oysters can live to be one hundred years old, but most that we consume are mere youngsters, between three and five years, when the meat is at its best quality.
2. Beef
The common misconception may be that this meat is loaded with fat. However, lean roast beef has less than 5 g of fat per 3-ounce serving. It was found in a study that the consumption of lean beef contributed significantly to the intake of zinc and other key nutrients without increasing intakes of total fat, saturated fatty acids, or sodium.
3. Alaskan King Crab
Don't be fooled by imitation crab, though, which has less of these nutrients and is made mostly of artificially flavored pollack! A study found that poor zinc status could contribute to insulin resistance in children. Eating zinc-rich foods, such as crab, as part of a good diet could improve the health and nutritional status of children and reduce the risk for diabetes.
The world is full of crabs! Can you believe there are over four thousand varieties? The most popular in the United States are the blue (mainly on the East Coast) and Dungeness (mainly on the West Coast) varieties.
4. Lamb
The average American consumes less than a pound of lamb a year—usually just for holiday dinners! Eating more lamb than the average American may make you happier, as low dietary intake of zinc was more strongly associated with depression! (As with other animal protein, there are healthy and less healthy cuts, so choose leaner varieties.)
5. Pork
A Danish study found that young women who consumed a diet that included lean pork had higher blood zinc levels than did those who ate a vegetarian diet. Zinc is more bioavailable from animal products than it is from plant sources.
6. Turkey
Turkey, in general, is a good source of iron, riboflavin, thiamine, and vitamins B6 and B12, but the dark meat has a slightly higher concentration of these micronutrients and a bit more fat. Three ounces of cooked skinless light and dark meat has about 2 and 5 g of fat, respectively. Studies have suggested that by eating zinc-rich foods such as turkey, pregnant women may lower their child's risk of childhood asthma.
About 90 percent of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 248 million turkeys were raised in 2011.
7. Lobster
Besides containing zinc, lobster is also an excellent source of other nutrients . The high phytate content of grains are known to decrease the bioavailability of zinc. Make sure you include in your diet high-biological-value zinc sources, such as lobster and other animal proteins, or take a zinc supplement to assure adequate zinc status.
Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 24