• Call For Zinc-Based Multivitamin To Reverse Immune Ageing Clock

    Posted November 1, 2018: by Bill Sardi

    A newly published report published in the journal Biogerontology calls zinc therapy to quell the age-related decline in the immune system.

    As people age and grow old so does their immune system, making them prone to life-threatening infections from microbes that would have normally have been intercepted in young adulthood by memory T-cells that in turn produce antibodies that result in life-long immunity.

    Zinc plays a key role in priming the human immune system throughout life.  Far too many Americans living in a well-fed country are zinc deficient.

    Advancing age is accompanied by a compromised ability of senior adults to combat bacterial and viral infections.  An example is the reemergence of a herpes infection , which strikes 1 in 4 octogenarians as shingles.

    Vaccination against pneumonia, shingles and the flu are marginally effective due to insufficient antibodies that are dependent upon zinc.

    The rise of blood infections (sepsis) among hospitalized patients further threatens life.

    Furthermore, the composition of bacteria in the digestive tract that is assaulted by bacteria, viruses and fungi on a daily basis, is altered considerably in old age.  This is pertinent given that the gut lining represents 70-80% of the entire immune system.

    Reversing declining immunity with zinc

    A recent report suggests immune system decline can be delayed or even reversed, largely via the use of zinc supplements.

    Zinc supplementation combats microbial infection, primarily by invigoration of the thymus gland to produce what are called naive T-cells (a form of white blood cell) that haven’t made memory immunity yet and will produce antibodies against any new incoming microbes.

    Zinc also quells an over-active immune system (called autoimmunity) and reduces susceptibility for allergies, and certain cancers.

    A recent report reveals zinc status determines the severity of sepsis (blood infections), which usually occurs concomitantly with hospitalization and antibiotic resistance.

    Another life-threatening infection is Clostridium difficile that arises in the aftermath of antibiotic use.  It was recently reported that an ample supply of zinc alters gut bacteria and decreases resistance to this pathogen.

    It is no surprise that zinc is now being called the “gatekeeper of immune function.”

    However, excessive zinc can lead to suppression of the immune response.  Zinc is also poorly absorbed and larger doses induce the body to produce more of a zinc binding protein (metallothionein) that impairs the availability of zinc.  Selenium increases the release of zinc from metallothionein. [Current Pharmaceutical Design 2008]

    The best way to supplement zinc is in the context of a multivitamin that provides vitamin B6 to increase zinc absorption and the trace mineral selenium that releases zinc from its binding protein.  Furthermore optimal immunity requires vitamins A, C, D, E, B2, B6, B12, folic acid, iron and selenium in addition to zinc, nutrients that are best delivered in a multivitamin.

    Dietary supplement formulators are unduly timid in providing doses of zinc beyond the 15 milligram/day Daily Value.

    American adults consume less than 10 milligrams of dietary zinc per day and only absorb maybe ~2-3 milligrams.  The Recommended Daily Allowance for zinc is 11 mg/day for males and 8 mg/day for females.  The safe upper limit for zinc intake is 40 mg/day.  [Office Dietary Supplements]

    It is commonly advised that zinc be provided in a 10-to-1 ratio with copper.  However 45 milligrams of zinc/day was not found to decrease the copper status of elderly individuals.  [American Journal Clinical Nutrition June 2010]

    Zinc oxide while being the most economical form of zinc is insoluble in water and is poorly absorbed.  Other forms of zinc are more appropriate (citrate, acetate, gluconate, glycinate, monomethionine).  Zinc carnosine is slowly absorbed and is easier on the stomach and kills off ulcer-causing Helicobacter pylori bacteria.

    Molecular Multi (Lifespan Nutrition) is the only comprehensive multivitamin that provides 30 milligrams of zinc + vitamin B6 and selenium.  ####

    Posted in Anti-Aging, Minerals ; No Comments »

Comments are closed.