Zinc
Minerals & trace elements
It serves hundreds of enzymes, immunity and taste.
It is the mineral that phytates chelate the most: soaking, sprouting or choosing sourdough changes far more than eating more of it.
Effects and benefits
The mineral of taste, smell, skin and defenses, present in hundreds of enzymes. It contributes to immunity as well as fertility; and its needs depend on what you eat with it, so much so that EFSA gives them as a range according to the phytates on the plate.
Zinc holds the shape of hundreds of enzymes and of the proteins that read DNA. A shortfall quickly dulls taste and smell, slows healing and weakens defenses. It contributes to the normal function of the immune system, to normal DNA synthesis, to the maintenance of normal skin, hair, nails, bones and vision, to normal fertility and reproduction and to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels (Regulation 432/2012).
By sex: EFSA sets the reference intake between 9.4 and 16.3 mg a day for a man, and between 7.5 and 12.7 mg for a woman, depending on whether the plate contains few or many phytates; it rises by 1.6 mg during pregnancy and by 2.9 mg during breastfeeding (EFSA, 2014). The prostate and semen are among the zinc-richest tissues in the body.
Sources: EU Regulation 432/2012 · EFSA, 2014
Where to find it (26)
- African rice
- Almond
- Bambara groundnut
- Black chickpea
- Black rice
- Black soybean
- Brown rice
- Cashew
- Chickpeas
- Cocoa
- Flageolet / borlotti bean
- Green / brown lentil
- Hemp seeds
- Lablab bean
- Lima bean
- Oats
- Pecan
- Pine nut
- Pumpkin seeds
- Red rice
- Sesame seeds
- Soybeans / edamame
- Sunflower seeds
- Urad bean
- White bean
- Whole wheat