zinc
dr. dolittle | December 10, 2015Zinc deficiency is sometimes diagnosed in infants who are exclusively breast-fed. It can occur because of a dysfunctional zinc transporter in the mother, which prevents zinc from being secreted into the breast milk through a special zinc transporter in the epithelial cells of the mammary gland (Chowanadisai et al., 2006). It could also be inherited.
Zinc is important for the production of lactose (milk sugar). In addition, infants with zinc deficiency may develop dermatitis on their face (image below), diarrhea, as well as neurological changes which may alter their behavior (Medscape).
A new…
palmd | December 2, 2009Remember the Zicam debacle? To catch you up, Zicam has been promoted for years as a "homeopathic cold remedy". It is of course neither. Since it contains measurable amounts of zinc, it isn't "homeopathic", and since there is no cure for the common cold, it's not a remedy. In addition to having neither of it's promoted qualities, the FDA has received hundreds of reports of people losing their sense of smell (became "anosmic") after using intranasal Zicam. As Steve Novella has pointed out, there is some scientific evidence pointing to a causal connection between zinc and anosmia. Now…