Zinc, Magnesium, and Selenium

Blue Sky,

If you are worried about Zinc levels in IBS and other GI patients.

You need to be taking some Niacin(amide) aka Vitamin B3.

It is true that Iron and Zinc levels.....are often low in Celiac's and other GI suffers????

But could they (deficient Iron and Zinc levels) be a proxy for Low Stomach Acid and Low Niacin levels!

According to this research 20+ years old......that has been forgotten and lost to a generation....that taking Niacin will improve Zinc and Iron levels! indicating Low Niacin could be the trigger metabolically for Low Zinc Levels in GI/IBS patients....and probably Celiac patients too! since these are commonly deficient minerals in Celiac's as well!

Entitled "Effect of nicotinic acid (aka Niacin or Vitamin B3) on zinc and iron metabolism"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9353874/

Where they note quoting the abstract

Abstract

Nicotinic acid has functional groups capable of forming complexes with trace metals. The present study examines the effect of nicotinic acid supplementation on absorption and utilization of zinc and iron. In vitro zinc uptake by human erythrocytes was studied using blood samples of 10 healthy subjects. It was found that 8 mumoles nicotinic acid or NADP increased 65Zn uptake by 38.9% and 43.1% in fasting, and by 70.9% and 28.1% in postprandial conditions. In animal experiments, nicotinic acid supplementation to finger millet based diet resulted in significant enhancement of percent zinc absorption, liver zinc and growth of weanling mice (P < 0.05). When mice were fed with nicotinic acid-deficient, -adequate and -excess synthetic diets for four weeks it was observed that, in comparison with the nicotinic acid-deficient diet, percent zinc absorption, intestinal zinc, percent haeomoglobin and liver iron increased significantly under nicotinic acid-adequate and -excess conditions. The results obtained suggested that nicotinic acid, in addition to its known effect on growth and metabolism, may be playing an important role in enhancing zinc and iron utilization.

I mentioned the Low Stomach Acid levels because Low Stomach Acid levels has also been shown to be an independent factor in Iron Deficient Anemia (IDA)

See this research entitled  "Is achlorhydria (No Stomach Acid) a cause of iron deficiency anemia"

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/102/1/9/4564242

They concluded it was!

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice

Posterboy,

Low stomach acid is one of a long list of reasons why someone might be deficient in zinc. Anything that damages the intestine could cause low zinc levels. Also supplementing may be helpful for reducing inflammation in the gut even if someone has normal levels in the blood. 

I am trying to keep this particular thread topic though on zinc (and magnesium and selenium) only, rather than niacin iron or stomach acid or information on supplementing with other vitamins. 

Did you know thiamine helps zinc get absorbed?

"Role of vitamin-zinc interactions on in vitro zinc uptake by human erythrocytes"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15235145/

Blue Sky,

I wrote a Posterboy blog post that talks about the role Magnesium and Zinc plays in GI problems in this blog post.  Maybe it will help you to read it.

I also wanted to post this nice online article about how nutrients interact in the body.

It is the best I have read on the topic.

https://www.deannaminich.com/vitamin-and-mineral-interactions-the-complex-relationship-of-essential-nutrients/

It is no doubt a complex relationship but one definitely worth studying!

It helped me to understand the role of Co-Factors.

Zinc interacts with other Minerals/Vitamins in the body often "Locking it up" so that it can't be used by the body.

Here is a couple things they note about Zinc

Quoting from the Deanna Minich article.

"Supplementation with folic acid, especially in a state of zinc deficiency, might reduce absorption of zinc through forming a chelate, but there are mixed results."

And  "Supplementing with calcium and iron greatly reduced serum levels of zinc."....so people taking Calcium supplements might "Lock Up" their Zinc effectively lowing their Serum levels of Zinc.

Also being low in B6 might might affect Zinc Levels.

"Chronic and acute vitamin B6 deficiency increases intestinal uptake of zinc but serum zinc levels decrease, demonstrating an impairment in zinc utilization."

As much you have studied Zinc you probably already know Zinc/Copper should be taken together to preserve the right ratio.  And why Zinc/Copper is sold together often.

Sometimes the ratio is more important than the absolute deficiency because being low in one nutrient will "Lock out" the absorption of the other.

The most notable affect of this is Magnesium/Thiamine.  Without Magnesium your body can't properly use thiamine and why sometimes taking Thiamine don't help people because the Thiamine deficiency is refractory to a Magnesium deficiency.

I think Knitty Kitty found you some good research about how this can be true for Thiamine and Zinc too!

I think of it like this.  Our doors have two locks.  One unlocks the door and the other unlocks the deadbolt.

Unless you supplement with Zinc's Co-factors like Copper, Magnesium, Niacin and Thiamine you will continue to be low in Zinc.  Because your body is still locked out by low Bio-availability of Zinc.

I hope  this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,

Zinc and leaky gut in Crohn's disease. 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11383597/

Blue Sky,

I thought you enjoy the new research I found recently on how nutrient (deficiencies) can regulate our Tight Junctions (TJ) leading to Leaky Gut in time.

Entitled "Regulation of the intestinal barrier by nutrients: The role of tight junctions"

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/asj.13357

I hope this is helpful but it is not medical advice.

Posterboy,