Zinc Deficiency and Requirements - Report Example

Zinc Deficiency and Requirement By students Name Course Professors Institution Zinc methodology The methodology used to determine dietary zinc intake in the Australian Health Survey is based on a mathematical statistical method known as the National Cancer Institute method. The model uses two days of dietary zinc intake data belonging to people in a selected age and sex group whose data is used to approximate optimum intakes for that age and sex group. The method does not determine individual intakes of the selected group. It instead provides intake distributions for the whole selected group chosen to participate in the survey1. The averages are usually similar when it comes to the whole group’s general and single day intakes. Findings from the survey always give accurate results based on estimations made on the group’s values. Collected data usually gives a clear picture of dietary zinc intake quantities variance within the group. The zinc intake results are usually compared with Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) for each sex and age group. NRVs give the proportion of persons in the group consuming less than the Estimated Average Requirement also known as EAR of zinc being consumed as a nutrient in their diets1. The number of group members with zinc nutrient intake score below the group’s EAR is considered to be the portion that is not meeting their zinc dietary requirements. The whole method is referred to as the EAR cut point method. Data from the participant is collected through the Automated Multiple-Pass Method (AMPM)1. The participants are usually volunteers. In this case children and adolescents aged between 14-18 years of age with permission from their specific parents or guardians. It is an effective ways of collecting dietary data that pertains to zinc as a food nutrient. It is a 5- step dietary procedure that involves interviews on the number of times in 24 hours of a previous day’s zinc intake. Participants get to receive cues that help them recall and describe the kinds of food that they have eaten that contain zinc2. The interview is administered by a professional interviewer in person or by telephone in a manner that is associated with extensive automated capabilities. Unique questions are asked, and are based on previous responses and edit checks are done during the interview. There are several countries including the US also use the AMPM method. This is because it is effective at establishing the nutrition intakes. The greatest limitation however is reliance of the participant memory Zinc intake and Zinc References values Nutrient recommendation levels for zinc and other nutrients provide dietary reference intakes (DRI). It was develop by the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB). DRIs cover a set of values that are used as the reference point during the planning or evaluation of nutrition intake. The values vary according to sex and gender and they include the following. i. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) which represents the average daily intake extends necessary attain the nutritional need up to 98 to 98% for healthy people. ii. Adequate Intake (AI) which establishes whether there is adequate evident to develop RDA and is normally positioned at levels designed to achieve nutritional adequacy. iii. Tolerable Upper Intake level (UL) which stands for the daily maximum intake that has the leas probability of causing negative effects on health. Below is a table that shows the presentation of zinc intake for children aged between 14-18 years based on the Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) for zinc specifically the EAR, Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) and Upper Level (UL) for the children. Zinc intake (mg/day) EAR (mg/day) RDI (mg/day) UL (mg/day) Boys 9 10.9 11 34 Girls 8 8.9 9 34 Total (boys and girls) 17 19.8 20 68 The boys and girls are consuming below the required amount of zinc required in terms of nutrients. The boys and girls are consuming below the required amount of zinc required in terms of nutrients. This could be a product of various reasons the humper the nutrition intake of both boy and girls. For instance, the choice of foods that they teenagers consume has very limited zinc content and the collective amount of zinc in all the consumed foods does not add up to the total zinc requirement. According to the comparison, bays fall far beyond this zinc nutrition requirements. However, the situation can be improved through revising the meal plan.and taking supply. Health Implications of Zinc This section will seek to compare the finding of different studies on health implications of zinc. There are various implications of dietary zinc on the human health. Zinc is an essential nutrient required in a human body. It was discovered in the sixties that zinc deficiency affects humans3. It is approximated that zinc deficiency affects close to one billion people all over the world. It affects growth, development and the immune system of any human being. Zinc deficiency lead to a deficiency in a human being’s immune system thus making a person weak and susceptible to different kinds of diseases. Inadequate consumption of zinc also leads to growth retardation in general and in this case on children between 5-18 years the case remains the same3. Zinc affects growth of children and adolescents since it promotes DNA and RNA synthesis coupled with cell division in their bodies. Zinc deficiency is a condition that mainly occurs in developing countries. It is the single most common cause of growth retardation in poor nations better known as nutritional growth retardation (NGR)1. Growth reductions tends to occur as an adaptive response to lack of enough nutrients like zinc since zinc is found in nucleoproteins that are involved in gene expression of multiple proteins that are used to sustain growth and development. NGR patients tend to get the appropriate height when growing which makes them fail to grow to their appropriate height levels even without showing body deficits for height. What happens is that these patients get to get used to the decreased zinc intake by their bodies tending to react to this situation through growth reduction. Their metabolic rates may not show any alterations in other markers that depict malnutrition2. According to Kim zinc intake is important during puberty that is for adolescents and can be boosted by adding multivitamins to their diets as well2. Although zinc can be sourced from different kinds of foods, it is also an over the counter nutrient meaning it can be purchased separately and specifically in order to be used to increase a growing person’s zinc levels within his or her body. During puberty zinc supports normal growth and helps develops and adolescents’ bodies as it should during this period of their lives. Muscle tissues growth and repair occurs during this period a process that requires adequate zinc levels within the body to occur efficiently as expected. Zinc helps in cell division a process that takes place every time during puberty. By doing this, zinc repairs DNA thereby building genetic materials in the cells. The main reason zinc deficiency tends to occur in developing nations is the high phytate containing cereal protein intake that takes place in these nations. Such nations tend to feed on protein cereals. Stunted growth occurs due to zinc deficiency and also affects children under the age of 5 as well, making them gain a high risk of dying. Children that are stunted achieve a larger effect of zinc supplementation on linear growth. This goes to show that zinc deficiency is the main cause of growth retardation in most developing countries. Zinc deficiency is rare in humans; that is why it is a kind of nutritional deficiency that is common in populations that consume foods low in zinc3. Mild and moderate zinc deficiency is difficult to diagnose since it shares some symptoms like growth retardation with other nutrient deficiency problems. The only way that this problem can be taken care of is by zinc being supplemented with other nutrients like iron. Zinc supplementation is also recommended as a way of dealing with respiratory problems in young children as well. The availability of zinc supplements is the main problem that acts as disadvantage to health organizations that are trying to treat and curb this deficiency3. Their delivery is limited and their access is limited in developing nations that are too poor to acquire them in quantities that can sustain their populations. To treat zinc deficiency a person should increase his or her food intake by eating foods that have high zinc content like oysters, green peas oats and peanuts among others. References 1. Ho M, Baur LA, Cowell CT, Samman S, Garnett SP. Zinc status, dietary zinc intake and metabolic risk in Australian children and adolescents; Nepean Longitudinal Study. . Eur J Nutr. 2016. 2. Kim J. Dietary zinc intake is inversely associated with systolic blood pressure in young obese women. Nutr Res Pract. 2013 Oct;7(5):380-4 3. Forrestal SG. Energy intake misreporting among children and adolescents: a literature revie. Matern Child Nutr. 2011 Apr;7(2):112-27 Read More