Zinc status and immune system relationship - A review

The essentiality of zinc for humans was first documented by Prasad in the 1 960s. The main clinical manifestations associated with zinc deficiency are growth retardation, hypogonadism, diarrhea, and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases. Thus, in the past 25 yr, there was an increased inter est of researchers in studying the role of zinc in human immunity. Although mechanistic research has been carried out using animal models, there are s everal studies in humans with similar results. This work is an attempt to r eview the information available in this field to understand the important r ole that zinc plays in the normal development and function of the immune sy stem.