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          WARNING! ZINC DEFICIENCY -- AS CAUSE OF MODERN ILLNESSES

   According to Ananda S. Prasad, MD, PhD, at Wayne State University, the
   Western world's shift from consumption of meat proteins to cereal
   proteins containing high levels of fibers known as phytates may
   precipitate a general increase in zinc deficiency. Other known causes
   of zinc deficiency in man include surgery, malabsorption syndrome,
   frequent ejaculation (most often by homosexuals), excessive alcohol
   intake, fasting, institutional diets, illegal drug use, chronic
   diseases (including sickle cell anemia, Wilson's disease, renal and
   liver diseases), lack of zinc in food crops grown in zinc depleted
   soils, a poor diet, dependance on processed foods, vegetarianism, and
   long term exposure to environmental toxins.

   DANGERS OF ZINC DEFICIENCY: Continued increase in zinc deficiency may
   be dangerous to humanity because dietary zinc deficiency -- dependent
   upon severity and other factors -- can result in: (a) primary T-cell
   lymphocyte immune system dysfunction (failure to terminate incipient
   malignancies, viral and fungal infections), (b) inability to protect
   cell membranes from viruses, toxins, complement, and venoms, (c) poor
   appetite (particularly in the young and aged), (d) mental lethargy,
   (e) abnormal neurosensory changes, (f) chronic diarrhea, (g) growth
   failure (dwarfism), (h) vision problems, (i) fertility problems
   (including hypogonads, failure of sexual maturity, benign prostatitis
   in men, and menstrual cramping and bloating in women), (j) essential
   hypertension, (k) angina pectoris, (l) ischemia of effort, (m) delayed
   wound healing, (n) free radical damage, (o) frequent opportunistic
   infections, (p) scleroderma, (q) systemic scleroderma (including
   lethal pulmonary hypertension), (r) respiratory and skin allergies,
   (s) asthma, (t) premature aging, (u) loss of hair color, (v) anemia,
   (w) striae (stretch marks), (x) joint pain, (y) loss of taste, and (z)
   birth defects. In chronic zinc deficiency, smoking tobacco can result
   in absent zinc being replaced with toxic cadmium from cigarette smoke
   eventually resulting in lung disease. Lead, cadmium, and mercury
   toxicity can be treated by displacing those elements by therapeutic
   doses of dietatry zinc. It is probable that each of these disorders
   will respond to, be prevented by, or be cured by daily therapeutic
   doses of zinc (ten times the U.S. RDA 15 mg for zinc).

   ZINC OR GOLD, WHICH IS MOST VALUABLE? Of potentially extreme
   importance to humanity, in test animals zinc deficiency induced a
   chronic immunosuppression that persisted through the third generation
   of their offspring. See "Gestational zinc deprivation in mice:
   persistence of immunodeficiency for three generations", Science. 1982,
   volume 218 pages 469-471. If this is also the case for zinc deprived
   humans, humanity faces a bleak future filled with disease.
   Consequently, zinc may be far more valuable to humanity than the most
   precious of metals -- gold.

   SIGNS OF ZINC DEFICIENCY: One easily recognized sign of zinc
   deficiency is white spots, bands, and lines on finger nails. An
   occasional white spot is usually evidence that the immune system
   overcame a bacterial or some other systemic infection, and is a
   positive, not negative sign. Some women will have multiple parallel
   white bands or lines on their fingernails marking menstrual cycles in
   marginal zinc deficiency. According to some biomedical researchers,
   human zinc deficiency may be correctable only by a therapeutic intake
   of 100 to 150 mg zinc per day taken orally for a few months.
   Significantly exceeding 150 mg per day to correct serum zinc
   deficiency is rarely warranted, and often causes nausea and vomiting,
   and may have other deleterious effects on health, primarily through
   depletion of serum copper. Some researchers suggest adding trace
   amounts of copper and vitamin B-6 with supplemental therapeutic doses
   of zinc to help reestablish proper zinc serum levels.

   PRIMARY ROLE OF ZINC IONS: Most serum Zn2+ ions are used by the body
   to stabilize cell membranes and close pores in cell membranes. In
   vitro, Charles A. Pasternak, PhD, MD (Hon), of St. George's Medical
   Hospital, University of London, has found that increasing Zn2+ ion
   concentrations to be a novel and newly recognized form of host
   defense, because they strengthen cell membranes and protect them from
   damage from many cytotoxins, including viruses, venoms, and
   complement. His writings, and similar writings of others, on these
   general protective effects of Zn2+ ions can be found in references 1,
   11, 63-67, 70, 79, and 104-106 in Chapter 2. In vitro Effects of Zn2+
   Ions, from Handbook for Curing the Common Cold: The Zinc Lozenge
   Story.

   Similarly, we have some evidence that oral intake of extremely large
   doses of ionizable zinc compounds can prevent injury and possibly
   death from potentially lethal cytolytic agents. FOR EXAMPLE: Three
   grams of zinc (from zinc gluconate) taken in four 750-mg doses per day
   with meals for a week has been successfully used to prevent severe
   tissue necrosis and possible death from a brown recluse spider bite in
   the navel of a 100-pound female adult. This treatment produced no
   observable side effects (neither nausea nor vomiting), rapidly
   eliminated systemic bloating and generalized pain, and resulted in
   rapid wound healing without scarring. However, if such extreme dosage
   is given in health, zinc toxicity must always be expected.

   Excessive consumption of zinc over a long period can interfere with
   copper absorption and has reversible side effects, the most noticeable
   being anemia and neutropenia. Like overdoses of any nutrient, stopping
   or reducing dietary zinc supplementation has been reported to be
   corrective. On the other hand, many people drink water carried by
   copper plumbing, and consequently they may be carrying a burden of
   excess -- and potentially toxic -- copper which may be beneficially
   adjusted by supplemental zinc.

   ANTIOXIDANT EFFECTS: Zn2+ ions are nature's strongest antioxidants,
   far more so than vitamins C and E, and much safer than selenium.
   Generally, therapeutic doses of zinc in highly ionic forms to treat
   diseases, wounds, burns, and venomous bites are a fresh, and promising
   area demanding further research.

   FOR THE RECORD: Increasing dietary zinc or vitamin C does not decrease
   incidents of colds or their severity (except in cases of deficiency
   induced immunosuppression) because susceptibility to colds is
   primarily determined by other factors including the strength of the
   mouth-nose biologically closed electric circuit (measured in ohms),
   status of nasal cell membrane porosity, nasal mucosa viral antibody
   titers, and other well known immunologic factors. It is easy to
   "prove" that increased vitamin C or zinc intake shortens colds by a
   day or two in nutrient deficient individuals compared with nutrient
   deficient individuals given placebo.