Moderate Amount of Zinc in Diet Can Prevent Fatal Diseases Like Cancer and Reduces Wear and Tear on DNA, Study

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Adding as little as 4 milligrams of extra zinc in the daily diet can have positive and profound impact on cells' health which eventually enables the body to fight infections and diseases in the body, reveals a new study done by researchers of the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Research Institute (CHORI).

Fortified crops like zinc wheat and zinc rice can save the nutrient deficient people sufficient amount of zinc. This mineral is omnipresent in the human body and plays an important role in matters that are directly linked to preserving the life.  Childhood growth and a healthy immune system owe to zinc. Zinc also limits oxidative stress and inflammation that leads to cancers cardiovascular diseases, Science Daily reported.

The study which is led by CHORI Senior Scientist Janet King, PhD is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  Janet King with her team is considered the pioneer to discover that a little increase of zinc in diet can reduce damage to DNA and oxidative stress.

King is surprised to find that just a little amount of zinc when added into the diet, a significant impact on metabolism happens. The new results provide a new strategy to weigh the impact of zinc on the human body and health. Micronutrient deficiencies can be solved with food-based interventions, she adds.

Polished white rice and refined wheat or corn meal have become a part of most the world's population. These are deficient in essential micronutrients such as zinc.  Nearly 3000 different proteins have zinc as an important part of them and zinc leads these proteins how to regulate every cell in our body.  Zinc deficiency disables the body to repair the wear and tear our DNA goes through, Science News Line reported.

In the six-week study, the scientists focused on counting the DNA strand breaks to measure the impacts of zinc on human metabolism. The parameter of DNA damage helped the scientists to examine the effects of a modest amount of zinc on healthy living. King believes that biofortification can be a long-term and sustainable solution to zinc deficiency in humans.