Zinc and copper: essential micronutrients for human health

Abstract

Micronutrients such as Zinc and Copper are molecules present in the human organism in very tiny amounts. The most susceptible persons to have their deficiency are babies, children, teenagers, pregnant women and those women at reproductive age. Deficiency of these elements in children and young people is caused by low consumption of animal’s origin foods or due to a very rich in cereals diet, which contain high level of phitates. Clinical manifestations on adult people mainly had been described in those patients who had intravenous nutrition with very few concentrations of these micronutrients, in patients with very important looses of gastrointestinal fluids or chronic dialyzed people as well as burned or renal dysfunction patients. Main alimentary sources of these micronutrients are shellfish, seafood, red meat and dairy derivatives, fish, peas and lentils. We should keep in mind that cereals inhibit their absorption.

Keywords

• micronutrientes
• oligoelementos
• zinc
• cobre