Reduced Serum Zinc Levels Predict Death In Patients At Risk Of Cardiovascular Events
Research published online on October 24, 2008 in the British Journal of Nutrition revealed a correlation between insufficient zinc levels and a higher risk of death among patients referred for coronary angiography. To the authors’ knowledge, the study is the first to examine the relationship between zinc and mortality in men and women at an intermediate to high risk for future cardiovascular events.
Stefan Pilz, of the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the Medical University of Graz in Austria, and his associates evaluated data from 3316 participants in the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health study of patients referred to coronary angiography in southwest Germany. Blood samples collected prior to angiography were analyzed for zinc, glucose and other factors.
The patients were followed for a median of 7.75 years, during which 484 participants died from cardiovascular disease and 261 died of noncardiovascular causes. For those whose zinc levels were among the lowest 25 percent of participants at less than 780 micrograms per liter there was a 44 percent greater adjusted risk of dying from all causes compared with those whose levels were among the top 25 percent, at greater than 960 mcg/L. Cardiovascular deaths were 24 percent greater among those whose zinc levels were lowest, and the risk of dying from noncardiovascular causes was more than double that of participants whose zinc levels were highest.
Oxidative stress, immune dysfunction and inflammatory processes are among the mechanisms proposed by the authors to explain the effects observed in the current study. While these mechanisms have been associated with zinc deficiency as well as age-related degenerative diseases such as infections and atherosclerosis, supplementation with zinc has been shown to reduce inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress markers while lowering the incidence of infections. Zinc’s positive role in cardiovascular disease may be due to its antioxidant effects on endothelial cells which could help prevent early atherosclerotic lesion formation, although the mineral may be more important in early rather than late phases of the disease.
“The present results show that low serum zinc concentrations predict mortality in patients scheduled for coronary angiography and thus support considerations for supplementation of zinc plus other micronutrients in aging individuals with a deficiency for this essential trace element,” the authors conclude.
About the Author
Dayna Dye writes for Life Extension – a global authority on health, wellness and nutrition as well as a provider of scientific information on anti-aging therapies and nutritional supplements, including minerals, herbs, hormones and vitamins.
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