| |
Micronutrient
Malnutrition
Zinc
Zinc is essential for survival and deficiency has
serious consequences for health. Randomized controlled
trials showed that zinc supplementation can reduce the
severity of morbidity from a number of common childhood
infections, including diarrhea, pneumonia, and possibly
malaria, by one-third (Bhutta et al. 1999, 2000; Black
1998; Roy et al. 1999; Shankar et al. 2000). In addition,
zinc deficiency causes stunting (Brown and Wuehler 2000;
Roy et al. 1999; Umeta et al. 2000). Because of inadequate
intakes, billions of people are at risk for zinc deficiency,
but no estimates are available for the number of people
who are zinc deficient as a standard method for measuring
zinc deficiency is not yet available.
Estimated population at risk of low zinc intake, by region
|
Region |
Population
(millions) |
Percentage of population at risk of low zinc intake |
| Asia |
3,063 |
61 |
| Southasia |
1,297 |
95 |
| Southeast Asia |
504 |
71 |
| China |
1,262 |
21 |
| Africa and Eastern Mediterranean |
923 |
70 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa |
581 |
68 |
| North Africa/Eastern Mediterranean |
342 |
74 |
| Latin American/Caribbean |
498 |
46 |
| Developing countries |
4,484 |
61 |
| USA/Canada |
305 |
1 |
| Western Europe |
457 |
8 |
| Eastern Europe |
413 |
13 |
| Western Pacific |
223 |
19 |
| Developed Countries total |
1,398 |
10 |
| All Regions Total |
5,882 |
49 |
Source: Brown KH, Wuehler SE. Zinc and human health. Ottawa: Micronutrient Initiative, 2000.
Publications on Zinc
|
