The "Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents" points out that adult women need to consume 11.5 mg of zinc every day, while men need 15 mg.

Zinc helps growth and development, intellectual development, and improves immunity. Lack of zinc will have a serious impact on our body, especially growth and development. Zinc deficiency will lead to the following consequences:

1. Digestive dysfunction mainly manifests as loss of appetite. Zinc deficiency will affect the function of the tongue mucosa, thereby reducing taste sensitivity. Children may develop anorexia and pica, and some may also develop pica. For example, they like to eat soil, cinders, matchsticks, raw flour, etc. It is caused by zinc deficiency.

2. Babies with recurrent oral ulcers and zinc deficiency often have ulcers in their mouths, or patches of tongue mucosa peeling off the tongue coating, which resembles a map and is called geographic tongue.

3. Slowed growth and development. Zinc is one of the essential trace elements for human metabolism. Once deficient, it will affect cell metabolism and hinder the function of the growth hormone axis. As a result, growth and development are affected, making the child short in stature and unable to gain weight.

4. Reduced immune function. Zinc deficiency will damage the immune function of cells, making children susceptible to infectious diseases, such as frequent upper respiratory tract infections, bronchopneumonia, repeated colds or diarrhea, etc.

5. Retarded intellectual development. Zinc deficiency will cause obstacles to DNA and protein synthesis in brain cells, thus affecting the child's intellectual development.

6. In children with low zinc levels and zinc deficiency, serum zinc is often below 11.47umol/L.

Zinc is an essential element for the normal functioning of our human immune system, but excessive intake of zinc ions can also be harmful. Excessive zinc supplementation can reduce the content of vitamin C and iron in the body, inhibit the absorption and utilization of iron, and cause iron deficiency anemia.

Extended information:

For men, zinc is very important and will affect the secretion of male hormones. In normal excretion, men lose more zinc every day than women.

Because male semen contains a large amount of zinc, insufficient zinc in the body will affect the quantity and quality of sperm. In addition, zinc is also responsible for protecting the prostate.

Foods rich in zinc include aquatic products (especially shellfish, such as oysters, shrimp, etc.), lean meats, animal offal, nuts, etc. However, aquatic products and animal offal easily accumulate heavy metals, so it is not advisable to eat more.

Reference source: People's Daily Online - What are the priorities of men and women's health care? Men should supplement zinc, women should supplement iron and calcium

Reference source: People's Daily Online - Experts announced: The most "nurturing" men 5 types of food

Reference source: Baidu Encyclopedia--Zinc