Vol. 8, Issue 9 (2019)

Author(s):
Shruti Singh and Ritu Prakash Dubey

Abstract:
Since its first discovery in an Iranian male in 1961, zinc deficiency in humans is now known to be an important malnutrition problem world-wide. It is more prevalent in areas of high cereal and low animal food consumption. Zinc performs many functions as a part of every cell in the body and so zinc is essential for normal growth development, reproduction and immunity. Zinc is involve maintaining a healthy appetite, assisting in the perception of taste and maintaing capacity for night vision. Zinc involve these functions not just as a metalloenzymes, but also in specific interactions between zinc and various harmones. Human and animal tissues contain about 200 enzymes whose activity depends on the presence of zinc. Zinc is considered as an antioxidant nutrients. Zinc is essential for the maintance of protein structure and for the metabolism of proteins and nucleic acids. The maintenance and replication of genetic material (DNA and RNA) and the use of genetic information to generate specific proteins are dependent on zinc. Zinc is involved cholesterol transport and in maintaining the stability of lipids within the cell membrane.