Vitality News Health Articles

Zinc is a transitional metallic element known since ancient times. It is widely distributed in our environment, being found in water, air and virtually all foodstuffs. The medicinal abilities of zinc in the shape of calamine were described more than 3,000 years ago in the Ebers Papyrus, in ancient Ayurvedic notes and in early Indian medicine. The finding by Raulin in 1869 that the mold Aspergillus niger would not survive on a zinc-deficient substrate was fundamental in determining the importance of zinc in organical systems.

Zinc is second only to iron in being the most predominant trace element in our body, but its nutritional importance came to light only in the 1960s following reports of zinc-responsive growth failure in infants in rural Egypt and Iran.

What Zinc Does In The Body

It is a basic trace element in the human body and its importance in skin health and in disease is recognized. It serves as a cofactor in several transcription factors and enzyme systems including zinc-dependent matrix metalloproteinases that boost desquamation and keratinocyte migration during injury repair.

Zinc confers strength to epithelial apoptosis through cytoprotection against reactive oxygen species and microbial. Zinc deficiency of inherited or dietary origin can lead to pathological changes and retarded scar healing. Oral zinc supplementation may be beneficial in curing zinc-deficient leg ulcer sufferers, but its therapeutic place in surgical patients needs further clarification.

Zinc Applied On Wounds Is The Better Solution

Topical use of zinc seems to be superior to zinc tablets due to its action in controlling superinfections and necrotic material via improved local defense systems and collagenolytic action, and the sustained release of zinc ions that promotes epithelialization of injuries in normozincemic patients. Zinc oxide in paste bandages (Unna boot) shields and soothes inflamed peri-ulcer skin. Zinc is carried through the skin from these formulations, although the systemic actions seem insignificant.

Zinc Is Omnipresent

Subsequent study has shown that zinc is present, albeit in minute proportions, in all living plant and animal cells, mainly in the shape of cofactors or structural components in key enzyme mechanisms vital for cell replication, protein synthesis, and repair mechanisms following injury. In 1941, Keilin and Mann identified the first metalloenzyme, carbonic anhydrase, with zinc as an important cofactor, but more recently zinc has been recognized in more than 300 different enzymes.

In addition to its role in nucleic acid and protein synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and oxygen transport, zinc is now known to be instrumental in regulating cellular walls. Zinc-finger proteins are a family of more than 2,000 transcription elements that bind specifically to DNA and stimulate transcription of growth factors, cytoprotective proteins, and are controllers of adult hematopoietic stem cells. Apart from its influence in protein chains, the zinc ion is tightly involved in intracellular signaling and neurotransmission vital for scar less wound healing.

A new scar care treatment containing zinc is now available to alleviate all types of acne scars, including keloid scars, surgical scars and also stretch marks. Made with biological ingredients, it ensures a scarless acne scars healing and the recovery of your old healthy skin.

- Grace Empson