Defusing Anger with Zinc

Zinc may benefit mental health, especially anger and overall mood, in women.

Nutrition For Optimal Wellness | Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS | Zinc is essential for proper prostate gland function and the growth of the reproductive organs. It also facilitates wound healing, allows acuity of taste and smell, protects the liver from chemical damage, is vital for bone formation, increases vitamin A absorption and helps maintain vitamin E levels in the body¹.

Research has found zinc to elicit broad health benefits including improving athletic performance², helping preserve our sense of taste as we age³, heart health⁴ as well as lung health in both children⁵ and the elderly⁶. Now a new study⁷ has found that zinc may benefit mental health, especially anger and overall mood, in women.

Previous studies have shown depression and impaired cognitive function to be early signs of human Zinc deficiency⁸. Building upon these findings, 30 women with an average age of 19 were given either a multivitamin or a multivitamin and 7 mg of zinc gluconate per day for 10 weeks. The multi-vitamin supplement contained vitamins A, D, B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin and folic acid in amounts that were 50% of the Japanese Recommended Dietary Allowances for women of this age group. The patients then completed psychological tests that included the Cornell Medical Index⁹ and The Profile of Moods State¹⁰, which were used to evaluate somatic symptoms, and mood and feelings, including anxiety, sensitivity, anger and tension.

While those in the zinc group had slightly more improved scores for depression and dejection (23% decrease (19.6 to 15.1) in the zinc group vs. 18% (20.3 to 16.7) in the multivitamin-only group), those in the zinc group “showed a significant reduction” in anger–hostility scores. Specifically, those in the zinc group had a 28% decrease (11.7 to 8.4) compared to 13% in the multivitamin-only group (14.3 to 12.5). What’s more, those in the zinc group had “a significant increase” in blood levels of zinc (9% increase (0.84 to 0.92 micrograms/milliliter) vs. 3% increase (0.87 to 0.89 micrograms/mL) in the multivitamin-only group).

For the researchers, “Our results suggest that Zn supplementation may be effective in reducing anger and depression.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

Reference:

1. Balch JF. Prescriptions for Natural Healing. Avery Publishers 2000.Page 33.

2. Lukaski HC. Low dietary zinc decreases erythrocyte carbonic anhydrase activities and impairs cardiorespiratory function in men during exercise. Am J Clin Nutr 2005 81: 1045-1051

3. Hechman SM. Zinc Gluconate in the Treatment of Dysgeusia—a Randomized Clinical Trial. J Dent Res 84(1):35-38, 2005

4. Ren M. Zinc supplementation decreases the development of atherosclerosis in rabbits. Free Radical Biol Med 2006. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 4 May 2006

5. Coles CL. Zinc Modifies the Association between Nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pneumoniae Carriage and Risk of Acute Lower Respiratory Infection among Young Children in Rural Nepal. J. Nutr. 138:2462–2467, 2008.

6. Meydani SN. Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, Oct 2007; 86: 1167 – 1173

7. Sawada T. Effect of zinc supplementation on mood states in young women: a pilot study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010) 64, 331–333; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2009.158

8. Sands tead HH, Frederickso n C J, Penland JG (2000). H istor y of zinc a s related to brain function. J Nutr 130 , 496S–5 02S.

9. “Cornell Medical Index” - http://library.med.cornell.edu/About/cornellmedindex.html

10. “Profile of Moods State” - http://downloads.mhs.com/POMS/poms-tech-brochure.pdf

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