Yasuda Hiroshi, Tsutsui Toyoharu
La Belle Vie Research Laboratory, Tokyo 103-0006, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2016 Feb 25;6:21850. doi: 10.1038/srep21850.
The importance of zinc for human health has been recognized since the early 1960s, but today there is little concern about zinc deficiency in developed countries. In this study, we measured the zinc concentration in hair from 28,424 Japanese subjects (18,812 females and 9,612 males) and found that 1,754 subjects (6.17%) had zinc concentrations lower than 2 standard deviations (86.3 ppm) below the control reference range, which qualifies as zinc deficiency. In particular, a considerable proportion of elderlies and children (20% or more) were found to have marginal to severe zinc deficiency. A zinc concentration of 9.7 ppm was the lowest observed in a 51-year-old woman; this concentration was approximately 1/13 of the mean reference level. The prevalence of zinc deficiency in adults increased with aging to a maximum of 19.7% by the 8(th) decade of life, and decreased to 3.4% above 90-year-old. The proportion of zinc deficiency in infants 0-4 years was 36.5% in males and 47.3% in females; these percentages were higher than the maximum prevalence in elderly subjects. These findings suggest that infants and elderlies are prone to zinc deficiency and that intervention of zinc deficiency is necessary for normal human development, health and longevity.
自20世纪60年代初以来，锌对人类健康的重要性已得到认可，但如今发达国家对锌缺乏问题几乎没有担忧。在本研究中，我们测量了28424名日本受试者（18812名女性和9612名男性）头发中的锌浓度，发现1754名受试者（6.17%）的锌浓度低于对照参考范围的2个标准差（86.3 ppm），这符合锌缺乏的标准。特别是，发现相当一部分老年人和儿童（20%或更多）存在边缘性至重度锌缺乏。在一名51岁女性中观察到的最低锌浓度为9.7 ppm；该浓度约为平均参考水平的1/13。成年人锌缺乏的患病率随年龄增长而增加，到80岁时最高达到19.7%，90岁以上降至3.4%。0至4岁婴儿中，男性锌缺乏的比例为36.5%，女性为47.3%；这些百分比高于老年受试者中的最高患病率。这些发现表明，婴儿和老年人容易缺锌，并且为了人类的正常发育、健康和长寿，有必要对锌缺乏进行干预。
