Posted by Larry Hoover on April 5, 2016, at 23:36:41
In reply to Re: Zinc gluconate vs zinc picolinate, posted by Lamdage22 on March 22, 2016, at 16:00:46
> I doubt it really is doing something. Zinc deficiency is pretty much non-existent.
>
> You may actually do something bad for your health by taking it.I'm going to have to disagree with you there, dude. Intake and uptake are not equivalent concepts.
Zinc is transported out of the small intestine via one of three transporters which have higher affinity for certain divalent cations (iron, copper, even calcium/magnesium) than they have for zinc. There is no zinc transporter, per se. Zinc is a hitch-hiker, always looking for a ride.
There are genetic variants in those transporter binding regions which do not favour zinc. One of my personal challenges in life was to recognize that my body did not efficiently transport zinc across my intestinal lumen. I need 30 mg a day of supplemental soluble zinc, to manage my deficiency symptoms. I do not know if that is enough to optimize my supply.
My case is obviously not useful for extrapolation to the general population. The issue I have is that you assume that it is unlikely for anyone to fit that profile.
Zinc deficiency is not rare, IMHO. It is, instead, rarely recognized.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:1080530
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20150301/msgs/1087869.html