Top 16 Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency Are Revealed

signs and symptoms of zinc deficiency

Everyone, young and old people, needs regular zinc intake to keep alive, which is the reason why it is considered as an essential nutrient. It presents in every bone, organ, cell, tissue and fluid in the body, especially in the male semen and prostate gland.

A problem for almost all of the countries in the world, the WHO (World Health Organization) reports that the global rate of zinc deficiency is approximately 31%. There are a plenty of zinc-rich foods and multivitamin supplements; however, you do not realize that because you eat foods that contain zinc does not mean that your body is able to absorb it. There are a lot of risk factors for zinc deficiency right here. Even people who live in developed countries are not free from zinc deficiency.

Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – The Early Symptoms:

Zinc deficiency is considered as the fifth main risk factor to disease in the world, underdeveloped countries often get high mortality rates due to the connection that this health problem has with pneumonia and diarrhea. Zinc deficiency is really a serious global health problem that causes deaths, primarily in the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and South-East Asia.

Read More: Top 7 Natural Home Remedies For Pneumonia In Adults

Some risk factors that lead to zinc sufficiency:

∙ Inadequate diet and vegetarian diet

∙ Chronic kidney and liver disease

∙ Gastrointestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic diarrhea, short bowel syndrome.

∙ Alcoholism

∙ Diabetes, sickle cell disease

Learn More: How To Reverse Diabetes Naturally In 21 Days

∙ Pregnancy and breast-feeding

∙ People taking high doses of zinc supplements

Unfortunately, a lot of people are zinc deficient and they are entirely unaware of their health condition. In this article today, I will reveal some of the early symptoms of zinc deficiency that you should know, so you should not skip out interesting health facts and symptoms that you may experience if you get zinc deficiency. The early signs and symptoms of zinc deficiency people will have chance to discover in the entire article today and make use of are:

1. Weak Immunity

symptoms of zinc deficiency - weak immunity

This is the first out of the signs and symptoms of zinc symptoms that I would like to reveal in this article today and want you and my other readers to know. Zinc is an essential nutrient that helps to maintain the immune system. Especially, it plays a vital role in:

∙ Apoptosis to kill dangerous virus, bacteria and cancer cells

∙ Protective functions of the cell membranes

∙ T-cell differentiation and growth into white blood cells, which you need to protect your body from disease

Read More: Foods To Increase White Blood Cells Count: 15 Best Foods

∙ Gene transcription, which is the first step to express gene

Zinc is also an essential component for hormone receptors and proteins that help healthy body, immune function and mood balance. Zinc deficiency can lead to weakened antibodies and then weaken the immune system. Therefore, zinc-deficient people will easily get infection or flu.

Weak immunity is actually an early symptom of zinc deficiency, so be careful to it!

2. Diarrhea

Due to the damaged immunity caused by zinc deficiency, persistent diarrhea is a common health concern. Every day, this condition affects approximately 2 million children in most of the developing countries, these children are more likely to be susceptible to coli as well as other bacterial infections. However, taking zinc supplements has just been effective in treating babies who are over 6 months. Therefore, remember to consult with your doctor before allowing your infant to take zinc.

This is, in fact, one of the early symptoms of zinc deficiency that people should know and take more of this nutrient for good.

Learn More: 20 Home Remedies For Diarrhea In Infants And Adults

3. Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – Attention And Motor Disorders

Be good for neuropsychologic performance, low zinc intake has been involved in attention and motor disorders in babies. A study discovered that zinc supplementation providing only 50% of the required daily allowance.  However, do not pump your infants with full of zinc. The study found that it is the best to absorb zinc with an appropriate balance of other nutrients, which are found in whole foods. Therefore, it is important for you to consult with your health care physician.

In fact, this is also among the early symptoms of zinc deficiency, so parents should get proper proportion of zinc when pregnant to protect their unborn child from abnormal growth.

Read More: List Of Healthy Foods For Pregnant Women: 23 Best Cheers

4. Hair Loss

symptoms of zinc deficiency - hair loss

A common problem of people struggling with adrenal fatigue and zinc deficiency is related to hypothyroidism, a cause of alopecia and thinning hair. According to another research, thyroid hormones are good for the absorption of zinc. Subsequently, hair loss that is caused by hypothyroidism may not be improved with thyroxine, unless these people add zinc supplements.

Read More: How To Treat Hypothyroidism Naturally At Home

As long as the hair is zinc-deficient, it will not be able to grow normally. People with shortage of zinc can even get hair loss on some of other parts of their body. This is in brief one of the signs and symptoms of zinc deficiency, so people who experience hair loss should not ignore, but take more zinc supplements for good.

Learn More: How To Stop Hair Loss In Men And Women Naturally 

5. Leaky Gut

The gut-skin connection defines how leaky gut is able to cause some health conditions such as skin disorders, nutrient mal-absorption, allergies, thyroid problems and auto-immune disease. Proven to help deal with permeability alterations, taking zinc supplements can tighten leaky gut.

This is actually also one out of the early symptoms of zinc deficiency that a lot of people in the world have been experienced. Do you want to know other symptoms of zinc deficiency, continue reading this entire article!

6. Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – Allergies

Another out of the early symptoms of zinc deficiency that I would like to reveal in this writing today and want you and my other readers to know and remember for good, especially if you are often sensitive to food and environment. Chronic stress may lead to adrenal fatigue, and zinc deficiency, which causes higher histamine levels. Zinc is a vital thing in the way your body storing histamine. Zinc deficiency allows more of the histamine to be given off into the tissue fluids. This is good for 2 main reasons:

∙ Excessive histamine will create many symptoms related to allergies such as sneezing, running nose, hives, etc.

∙ High level of histamine increase the sensitivity to all of the allergic reactions.

7. Skin Problems

symptoms of zinc deficiency - skin problems

Zinc is an essential component in the development, growth and immunity of tissue. Zinc sufficiency causes various skin problems, and some people will get more skin rashes and acne. Besides, zinc found in our skin contains antioxidant substances that support UV protection and collagen production, so it is needed for wound healing. Zinc deficiency can cause dry skin, stretch marks and impaired wound healing. The skin turns rough or pale.

In fact, this is among the signs and symptoms of zinc deficiency, so you should try to add more zinc-rich foods to your daily diet to get a healthy skin.

8. Loss Of Appetite

Zinc deficiency may cause loss of appetite. This is because zinc is an enzyme that holds the senses of taste and smell. Insufficient levels of zinc can deter the function of the zinc-dependent enzyme. In case zinc deficiency is not completely treated, decreased appetite loss can eventually cause anorexia.

9. Hypogonadism

Hypogonadism means that the testicles cannot produce enough testosterone and can lead to damaged reproductive functioning, decreased muscle growth, sterility, osteoporosis, tiredness, and other symptoms. Zinc is a key factor to male reproductive health because of its role in the metabolism, development, and release of sex.

Continue reading this entire article to discover other symptoms of zinc deficiency and then consider taking zinc supplements daily to reduce the risk of hypogonadism.

10. Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – Impaired Exercise Performance

A study found that low zinc intake was responsible for weakening the metabolic and cardiorespiratory functions during exercise. After a graded exercise test, people who suffer from zinc deficiency fatigued quickly and then experienced increased breathing and heart rates, and reduced capacity for oxygen intake as well as carbon dioxide output.

11. Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – Impaired Brain Functions

impaired brain functions

Zinc deficiency damages brain function such as memory as well as problem-solving ability. Zinc deficiency can cause abnormal mental growth. The mental growth may slow down or stop as the brain will not develop at the normal rate.

12. Poor Night Vision

Zinc deficiency may make you get poor night vision. This is because zinc is important for eye health. Its antioxidant actions contribute to the eye protection from age-related macular degeneration that is caused by oxidative damage. Besides, zinc is also important for the liver n order to synthesize vitamin A that is really a key nutrient to good eyesight. Also, zinc is also a part of the mechanism to deliver it to the eye area.

13. Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – Mood Swings

Zinc has a calming power on the mood, and zinc deficiency can affect you mood and cause agitation and mood swings. Low levels of zinc has been proven in people with depression , anger and low confidence. The most common symptom of zinc deficiency is frequent mood changes.

14. Joint And Hip Pain

Painful knee joints and hip have been related to zinc deficiency. Bones have a great amount of zinc, and lack of zinc will lead to pain as well as other complications. The main reason for pain due to zinc deficiency is that zinc blocks calcium from being efficiently absorbed by bones.

This is also a great one on the list of the early symptoms of zinc deficiency, which you should not look down, but know and try to add more of the zinc-rich foods into the daily diet as soon as possible.

15. Weight Loss

symptoms of zinc deficiency - weight loss

This is one out of the signs and symptoms of zinc deficiency that I want to reveal in this writing and want you as well as other readers to get a proper proportion of zinc f they are facing weight loss due to zinc deficiency. It is a zinc deficiency sign, but it can also be a sign of other deficiencies or diseases. This is because zinc deficiency can cause appetite loss, thus it can indirectly lead to weight loss Children with a lack of zinc when they are born are often underweight.

16. Symptoms Of Zinc Deficiency – Other Symptoms

The signs of zinc deficiency vary from one individual to another. Apart from signs of zinc deficiency that I mentioned above, there are some other symptoms of zinc deficiency you may experience :

∙ White spots on fingernails and poor nail growth

∙ Behavioral and sleep disturbances

Hyperactivity 

∙ Inflammatory bowel disease

∙ Loss of sex drive

∙ Mild anemia

∙ Reduced fertility

In case you want to deal with zinc deficiency, I suggest that you should take 30mg of zinc daily for about 3 months. Also, ensure to take daily zinc supplement that includes copper over this period of time. Some dietary sources of zinc that you should consider adding to your daily diet:

∙ Oysters, lobster, crab, and shellfish

∙ Red meat and poultry

∙ Nuts, pulses and legumes

∙ Fortified cereals

∙ Wholegrain cereals

∙ Dairy products such as milk and cheese

After reading this interesting writing about the list of early symptoms of zinc deficiency, I hope that you and my other readers will spend time reading another writing that reveals early symptoms of calcium deficiency- the 8 Signs And Symptoms Of Calcium Deficiency In Humans article. In fact, this is an interesting article that will help you know symptoms you may experience if you are calcium-deficient. After reading this recommended article, I hope that readers of VKool.com can get a proper proportion of calcium, and then get rid of these health conditions as soon as possible.

This is the list of signs and symptoms of zinc deficiency that everyone, who wants to know whether or not you are zinc-deficient, should read and remember for good. In fact, these symptoms have been studied in a lot of people who suffer from zinc deficiency. If you experience one or more of the health issues I mentioned in this article, you should go to see your doctor and try to add more zinc-rich foods to your daily diet or take zinc supplements for good.

After reading the list of early symptoms of zinc deficiency, if you think that this list is necessary for your current health condition and are also helpful to other people you know who are struggling with one or more of the health issues above, you should share this list with them and simultaneously stimulate them to take more zinc supplements as soon as possible. If you know other symptoms of zinc deficiency, leave your comments in the comment section below, I will try to reply you soon.

Some articles about signs and symptoms of some of the health conditions that you may concern about:

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10 Signs And Symptoms Of Clogged Arteries In Heart & Body Parts

10 Early Symptoms Of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

11 Early Symptoms Of Dementia

10 Early Symptoms Of Pancreatic Cancer In Humans

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