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A number of studies have established that zinc is essential to protect against oxidative stress and help repair DNA damage. In someone who has a zinc deficiency, the risk of which has been shown to increase with age, the body’s ability to repair genetic damage may be decreasing even as the amount of damage increases.Recently, Emily Ho and colleagues from Oregon State University studied a lab animal model for the cellular zinc transport mechanisms. Finding that zinc transporters were significantly dysregulated in old mice, the team observed that aged animals showed signs of zinc deficiency and displayed an enhanced inflammatory response even though their diet supposedly contained enough zinc.
When the researchers gave them about 10 times the dietary requirement for zinc, however, their biomarkers of inflammation were restored to those of young animals. “Restoring zinc status via dietary supplementation reduced aged-associated inflammation,” the research write. “Our data suggested that age-related epigenetic dysregulation in zinc transporter expression may influence cellular zinc levels and contribute to increased susceptibility to inflammation with age.”
Wong, C.P., et al. Increased inflammatory response in aged mice is associated with age-related zinc deficiency and zinc transporter dysregulation. J Nutr Biochem. In press; published online Sep 13.
—Dr. Bob Goldman