Underwood Memorial Lecture: human zinc homeostasis: good but not perfect.

Three selected aspects of human zinc homeostasis and requirements are reviewed with special reference to studies undertaken by the author and his colleagues: 1) the implications for the calculation of physiologic requirements for zinc of the interrelationship between two key variables of zinc homeostasis, intestinal excretion of endogenous zinc and total absorbed zinc, are examined at levels of absorption below those necessary to meet physiologic requirements; 2) a method for deriving average dietary zinc requirements from zinc-stable isotope tracer/metabolic studies is illustrated with examples of studies being conducted in developing countries; and 3) the effect of reduction of high intakes of phytic acid on zinc bioavailability is examined with test meals prepared from low-phytic-acid maize or isohybrid wild-type control maize.