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What happens when you take zinc? | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
Myprotein looks at what is zinc? Where you can get it in your diet? And what the science says about supplementing it? ********************************* 🔔 Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1 📲 Download the Myprotein app: https://bit.ly/3dhVVUE ********************************* #Zinc #Myprotein Official YouTube channel for Europe's No. 1 Online Sports Nutrition Brand, Myprotein. Stay tuned for brand new videos every single week that help to inspire and motivate you to keep pushing further on your fitness journey. From challenging workouts to evidence-based nutrition videos — we've got it all. ********************************* References
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0:00
is taking a zinc supplement going to
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make a big difference to your body let's
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talk about
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[Music]
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that how's it going guys my name is
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Richie kwin and in this video we're
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going to talk about one of the most
0:13
important Metals in human nutrition zinc
0:16
we'll talk about what it is where you
0:18
can get it in your diet and what the
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science says about supplementing it and
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whether it'll help cure your cold or
0:24
raise your testosterone of the charts I
0:27
mentioned that zinc is a metal and fun
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fact the iron metal used to build
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Bridges is the same iron that you need
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to get from your diet to help you make
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healthy blood cells calcium iron
0:37
magnesium sodium pottassium and yes zinc
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are all metals that we get from our food
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and are essential for good health and
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you know just being alive there are a
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lot more metals that we get from our
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diet too but today we're going to focus
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just on zinc to give you an idea of how
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much zinc we have in our body if you
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take an average human their body has
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about 1.2 kg of calcium with about 9 9%
1:00
of that found in the skeleton but the
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average human has a total of only 2 to 3
1:05
G of zinc in their entire body mostly in
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the muscle and bone but also in other
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parts of the body too like the liver and
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testicles if you have them because we
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only have a small amount of zinc in our
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body we only need to eat a small amount
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every day and the recommended daily
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allowance of zinc is between 7 to 9.5 mg
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per day because we only need it in very
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small amounts we call Zinc a trace
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element the thing is if you don't get
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enough zinc regularly you can suffer
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from serious health effects and this is
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because zinc plays so many different
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roles in your body from normal cell
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functions including cell growth Division
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and differentiation cellular transport
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the hormone and the immune systems zinc
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is even involved in RNA and DNA
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synthesis DNA replication and
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transcription and even protein synthesis
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which we all know is important for
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muscle growth part of the reason for its
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functions in so many different systems
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is that zinc is an essential co-factor
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for more than one ,000 enzymatic
2:00
reactions and more than 2,000
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transcription factors needed for turning
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DNA into proteins if you take anything
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from this video remember zinc is an
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extremely important nutrient for example
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zinc helps maintain the enzymatic
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structure of an enzyme called superoxide
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dismutase which is one of the most
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powerful antioxidant enzymes in our body
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which helps to protect us from free
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radicals which are oxidant molecules
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that build up during normal metabolism
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zinc also plays a major function in the
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immune system by helping to control the
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INF response that the body generates
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when it's fighting an infection and by
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helping the growth and function of white
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blood cells like te- cells and B cells
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this is why zinc deficiency is often
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associated with a poor immune response
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meaning someone is more likely to get
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sick or to stay sick for longer if
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they're zinc deficient on top of all
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that zinc plays a role in bone formation
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skin Health brain function and even our
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microbiomes so it's something we don't
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want to be deficient in one of zinc's
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most well-known roles is in the
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biosynthesis of testosterone the male
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sex hormone which plays a big role in
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muscle growth in fact zinc deficiency
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has been linked with lower testosterone
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production and because of its
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antioxidant functions zinc is important
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for sperm formulation and protection too
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so what foods provide zinc in the diet
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well oysters which you've probably heard
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as being one of the best source of zinc
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provide approximately 70 milligrams per
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100 G beef 12 Mig per 100 hemp seeds
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around 9.9 Mig of zinc per 100 G and
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lamb up to 9 Mig per 100 G pumpkin seeds
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have about 8 Megs per 100 G cashews 5.8
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Mig lentils 3.3 almonds 3.1 quinoa 3.1
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as well and chickpeas 2.8 Mig of zinc
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per 100 gr so in the modern diet some of
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the main sources of zinc in terms of
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what people usually eat include Meats
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like beef liver pork lamb and other meat
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products which provide about 25% of
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people's total zinc intake cereals and
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grain products provide another 25% of
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our zinc and milk products provide
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around 15% of our daily zinc intake fish
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vegetables nuts and pulses like beans
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peas and lentils provide zinc but
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because people eat less their
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contribution of zinc to the diet is a
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lot less too on top of that zinc from
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plant sources tends to be less
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bioavailable than from animal sources
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meaning that we can absorb less of it
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that means that people on vegetarian or
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vegan diets are at a greater risk of
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getting less zinc from their diets which
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is what we see from a number of
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scientific studies that said vegetarians
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seem to adapt to that lower zinc intake
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by increasing zinc absorption in their
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guts vegetarians and vegans can
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definitely get enough zinc in their diet
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they just need to pay attention to
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including plenty of good sources like
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whole grains tofu Tempe legumes nuts and
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seeds or simply taking a zinc
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supplement compounds in plants like
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fiber and Fates do reduce the absorption
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of certain nutrients compared to
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animal-based foods but you are still
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able to absorb some of those nutrients
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and in many cases you can absorb more
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just by eating more if bioavailability
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is a concern because zinc is so widely
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found in different foods zinc deficiency
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is not that common in the western world
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but when it is it's often associated
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with problems like absorption like
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chronic inflammatory bellel disease such
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as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis
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in some cases very high intakes of
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copper iron or phytic acid from whole
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grains can cause problems with zinc AB
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abortion too but this isn't all that
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common so should you be taking a zinc
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supplement let's start off with one of
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the most common other uses for zinc the
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common cold the research on zinc
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supplementation for colds isn't very
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clear with some studies showing positive
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effects and some showing none at all but
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a couple of recent metaanalyses which
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combine and analyze the results of
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multiple Studies have shown that overall
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zinc lenes do seem to reduce the
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duration of the common cold now what is
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important to note though is that
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virtually all of the trials used a form
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of Zinc called zinc acetate it was in a
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lozenge form and people consumed
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multiple lenes per day usually one every
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2 to 3 hours providing them with 75 to
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100 milligrams of zinc per day that's
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more than 10 times the RDA which is fine
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for a few days but shouldn't be a
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regular intake because zinc in excess
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for a long time can be toxic just like
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anything else in excess now another
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question question people ask a lot is
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can you raise your testosterone levels
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with zinc as I mentioned zinc plays an
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important role in the production of
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testosterone in the testes zinc helps
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with the conversion of testosterone to
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dihydrotestosterone or DHT which has an
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even greater anabolic effect than basic
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testosterone alone and Studies have
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shown that zinc deficiency is associated
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with lower levels of testosterone and in
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those cases supplementing with zinc can
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restore testosterone concentrations back
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to their normal physiological range but
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studies consistently show that if
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someone has a balanced diet and isn't
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zinc deficient then taking zinc or
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supplements like zma doesn't increase
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testosterone levels now you can check
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out my other video on ways to increase
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testosterone but to start here's a
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summary if you're eating a healthy
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balanced diet with sufficient calories
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exercising regularly and getting plenty
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of sleep you're already doing everything
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you can to maintain healthy testosterone
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levels and no no amount of
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supplementation is going to change that
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unless you're supplementing with
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testosterone replacement therapy now I
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probably disappointed a lot of people
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with that last statement but I hope this
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video is giving you a much better
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understanding of the role of zinc in
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your diet and if anything you're less
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worried about not getting enough as
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always if you have any more questions
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let me know in the comments below and
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remember to like And subscribe to the my
7:52
protein YouTube channel for more great
7:54
evidence-based nutrition
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information
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