ASSESSING ZINC LEVELS: IS IT THE HOUR OF NEED?

Zinc is an essential mineral playing a pivotal role in numerous aspects of cellular metabolism. Zinc deficiency affects all age groups, but the effect on growing children is very severe. Zinc deficiency is known to cause stunted growth and development in children. However, there are no reliable biomarkers of zinc status to assess health risk. Without a specific, sensitive biomarker to determine the zinc nutritional status, zinc intervention program is a struggle. Sensitive and specific analysis of zinc status is hence cardinal to defining optimal zinc status and setting evidence-based reference intake level. Given the lack of an accurate, sensitive zinc biomarker that reflects zinc nutrition across various populations and situations, research is needed to identify new biomarkers. Presently, the biochemical marker for measuring the zinc status is analyzing the plasma zinc. However, zinc homeostasis depends on many factors complicating the detection of marginal zinc deficiency. Key words: Zinc; homeostasis; markers; under nutrition; deficiency