Are you among the estimated 75 percent of men who are deficient in zinc? Your prostate health could be at risk if your dietary supplements do not include this essential mineral.

Zinc is an important mineral that lives in almost every cell in your body and is in charge of a wide range of chemical reactions that you need for life. Men need zinc perhaps more than anyone else because high levels of zinc are concentrated in the prostate. When zinc levels drop, men become vulnerable to prostate enlargement, a condition that half of all men will experience at some stage of their lives. Enlarged prostate causes frequent, painful urination, incontinence and impaired sexual performance.

Did you know that prostate cancer is now the number one cancer affecting men of all races in the United States? Studies show that enlarged prostate can lead to prostate cancer.

Why is zinc important to your prostate health? Zinc prevents the male hormone testosterone from creating a harmful by-product in your body called DHT, which ultimately causes enlarged prostate and can lead to prostate cancer. Research shows that men supplementing their diets with zinc have reduced prostate enlargement in 75 percent of cases.

I recommend eating zinc-rich foods, such as seafood and leafy green vegetables. But you won’t cover your bases with your diet alone. Soil in most parts of the country is zinc-deficient, so your food is not the excellent source of zinc that it once was. It is estimated that only about one-third of food-delivered zinc is retained in the body.

At Evergreen Nutrition we have high quality zinc supplements to help you boost your zinc levels and avoid dangerous deficiency symptoms, such as slow wound healing, impaired taste and smell, night blindness and impaired immune response.

Zinc supplements also provide good news for infertile couples. Infertility affects about one in five couples in the United States. In a study of 22 infertile men, zinc supplements for two and a half months resulted in nine of the couples achieving successful pregnancies.

Zinc also protects you from osteoporosis by promoting mineral absorption and keeping your bones healthy. Zinc slows vision loss in individuals with macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in individuals over age 50. Zinc is a proven skin healer. Wounds and acne are skin problems that improve by adding zinc to your body. If colds and flu are slowing you down, sucking on zinc lozenges can dramatically reduce the duration and severity of your symptoms.

Forty-five years ago the FDA thought zinc was a toxic metal and should not be consumed. We now know that it’s an essential nutrient for a wide range of your body’s functions. There are many good reasons to add zinc to your health regimen.

From Evergreen’s Archive: April 2006

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