Low levels of zinc may be a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease

This study was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition 1998 Dec;17(6):564-70

Study title and authors:

Current zinc intake and risk of diabetes and coronary artery disease and factors associated with insulin resistance in rural and urban populations of North India.

Singh RB, Niaz MA, Rastogi SS, Bajaj S, Gaoli Z, Shoumin Z.

Center of Nutrition and Heart Research Laboratory, Medical Hospital and Research Center, Moradabad, India.

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9853535

This study set out to determine the association between zinc intake and prevalence of heart disease and diabetes. The study included 3,575 subjects, aged 25 to 64 years.

The study found:
(a) The prevalence of heart disease and diabetes was significantly higher among subjects consuming lower intakes of dietary zinc.
(b) Those with lower zinc intake had unhealthy higher blood pressure.
(c) Those with lower zinc intake had unhealthy higher triglyceride levels.
(d) Those with lower zinc intake had unhealthy lower levels of the beneficial high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels.

This study shows that low levels of zinc appear to be a risk factor of diabetes and heart disease.

The richest dietary source of zinc are; beef, lamb, poultry, oysters and crab.