Estimated One in Five People Worldwide Lack Enough Zinc in Diet

IZiNCG News Release – March 22, 2004
Up to one-fifth of the world’s people may lack sufficient zinc in their diet, while an estimated one-third live in countries considered at high risk of zinc deficiency, warns a comprehensive new report by an international group of medical researchers.

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Zinc for Better Health

During the first half of the 20th century, researchers discovered that zinc is essential for the normal growth and survival of plants and animals. Despite these observations, many nutritionists doubted that zinc deficiency occurred in humans because zinc is naturally present throughout the environment and obvious clinical signs of deficiency were not apparent. Today, however, zinc deficiency is recognized as an important and widespread risk to human health.

Clear evidence of human zinc deficiency began to emerge during the 1960s, when Dr Ananda Prasad first reported cases of dwarfism and delayed sexual maturity among Middle Eastern adolescents. When zinc supplements were given to these adolescents, their height, weight, bone development and sexual maturation improved significantly. Since then, many researchers working in different areas of the world have found that zinc supplementation increases growth among stunted children and reduces the prevalence of common childhood infections, such as diarrhea and pneumonia.