The elderly are at particular risk of nutrient deficiencies. Part of the reason for this is because institutionalised elderly have poor diets which contain low quality foods. However, in addition, as we age the efficiency of absorption within the gastrointestinal system decreases significantly. In addition appetite falls and the total energy consumed therefore falls concomitantly. Combined, these factors reduce the amount of nutrients being absorbed and this places the elderly individual at risk of particular nutrient deficiencies. Zinc is one nutrient that has been shown to be of concern in the elderly. Some authors have suggested that the poor zinc status of the elderly may be a causative factor in some of the degeneration that occurs with ageing. In particular the loss of metabolic activity, muscle mass and poor immunity may result directly from a zinc deficient diet. A number of studies have therefore assessed the zinc status of the elderly using a number of methods including serum and hair zinc mineral analysis.
For example, in one study1 135 black elderly subjects between the ages of 60 to 87 years, living in the United States, had their zinc status checked. The mean hair zinc concentration was 142 μg per gram and the mean serum zinc concentration was 93 μg per gram. Of the study population, 39 % had hair zinc concentrations below 100 μg per gram and serum zinc concentrations below 80 μg per gram, which are described as ‘low’ levels in previous research. More worryingly 11 % had hair zinc concentrations below 70 μg per gram and serum zinc concentrations below 70 μg per gram, which indicates a possible nutritional deficiency. The subjects in this study therefore had a general poor zinc status, which supports other studies that have shown similar for the elderly. The subjects were from low income families, and as has been shown many times, the poor are at much higher risk of nutrient deficiencies that the more well off. It is highly likely the low zinc status of these subjects was negatively affecting their health.
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