- Hey guys, today we're gonna talk about a very fascinating
interesting topic, zinc.
Now because zinc is so vital for your body
and it's just a fascinating mineral, I created three parts.
First thing you need to know is two billion people
on this planet are deficient in zinc.
That's crazy. That's a lot of people that are deficient.
I would imagine it's even more than that
as far as having a subclinical deficiency
and as we go through this you'll see what I'm talking about.
One thing about zinc is the body does not store it
so you have to constantly actually take it in.
and it's a trace mineral
which means that we need it in smaller amounts
compared to things like potassium and it's essential.
So what does it mainly do?
It acts as a cofactor for over 1000 enzymes.
So you have all these chemical reactions going on
at the cellular level with DNA turning into RNA
which is the kind of the blueprints
turning into the copy of those blueprints
and the transcription and the interpretation and all that
and the building of proteins all needs zinc.
So the enzymes are those things in the body
that do all the work and they need certain minerals
to accomplish their job.
10% of all human protein is bound to zinc.
It's a vital, vital nutrient.
It's the most common deficiency in crops
so I wanna read something here.
Scarcity in the soil, deficiency of micronutrients
that are essential for plant growth,
can lead to a lower crop yield.
During the past decade soil micronutrient deficiencies
have been ascertained primarily for zinc.
To a lesser extent, boron and molybdenum.
Soil deficiencies of zinc are widespread in Asia.
Scarcity in feed and food and human nutrition,
zinc deficiency is the most well known
micronutrient deficiency.
Zinc deficiency can cause disorders in humans
such as retarded growth in children.
We talked about it estimated of 1/3 of the population
is at risk for zinc deficiency.
It is the fifth most important risk factor
for disease in developing countries.
Scarcity of mineral deficiencies of micronutrients
in agricultural soils can be replenished
with mined minerals.
And then they talk about a lot of these minerals
are used exclusively for industrial applications,
not crops, livestock or for humans.
The mineral reserves in relation to the use
seem to be most restricted for zinc.
At the current level of production of mining,
we have a reserve for approximately another 21 years.
So at that point I don't know what's gonna happen.
Priorities should be given to zinc
because zinc deficiencies are already occurring
in food chains in a large part of the world.
Now on top of that,
glyphosate as in GMO foods, Roundup Ready,
acts as a major chelator
to bind and block zinc and other minerals.
Now I couldn't find the data currently,
but in 2007 they were putting 80,000 metric tons
of glyphosate into the environment.
Don't worry, it gets worse.
Alright so now let's get into the symptoms
of what happens when you're zinc deficient.
Growth retardation.
So if you're pregnant, if you're breastfeeding,
make sure that you're taking
the trace minerals including zinc
to maximize growth of that child.
Loss of taste and/or smell.
A lowered immune system
which we'll get into in the next video.
Prostate/testosterone issues.
Skin problems, major depression.
Zinc is intimately involved in insulin production.
Another side effect of zinc deficiency is diarrhea.
Eye problems, delayed healing,
ulcers of the mouth, of the digestive system.
Zinc is a really good remedy
for ulcers of the stomach as well.
Macular degeneration related to age,
inflammation in general.
Zinc is a natural anti-inflammatory
and it's a very powerful antioxidant as well
and I'm going to talk about some of these other things
in more detail in the next couple of videos.
The foods that are highest in zinc
are oysters, beef, crab and pumpkin seeds by the way.
Now there's other things that will decrease
your absorption of zinc.
If you had a gastric bypass surgery,
if you had any type of digestive damage
like IBS, Crohn's, diverticulitis,
you've had a lot of antibiotics. That can create a problem.
Liver disease, cirrhosis, things like that.
And also if you have lower stomach acid.
So many people don't have enough stomach acid
because you need this acid to absorb these minerals.
How do you know if you're deficient?
Well if you have heartburn,
chances are you're deficient in the acid that you need
to absorb the minerals
and especially if you're taking an antiacid.
Phytates or phytic acid,
that would be in grains, whole grains.
It's in the bran or the fiber of whole grains and legumes.
And this compound actually blocks the absorption of zinc.
So it's actually kinda like a chelator.
It binds it very similar to glyphosate.
Diabetes. Having high blood sugar
because a high carb diet will deplete zinc as well.
So we're living in this environment
that it's making it very hard to get zinc
with the GMO foods, the high carb diets,
with the soil becoming depleted
and with all the pre-existing digestive problems
that we normally have, not to mention low stomach acids
because I really wanted to bring up your awareness
of these connections between these problems
and a simple trace mineral.
Alright let's go to part two.
So if you're enjoying this content,
go ahead and share it with someone
that could really benefit from it.