ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the importance of five of the essential trace elements — zinc, copper, manganese, chromium, and selenium — to human nutrition, especially in regard to the nutritional needs of the aged. The fact that most elderly individuals consume less zinc daily than the amount suggested in the Recommended Dietary Allowance does not prove that their zinc intakes are inadequate to meet their needs. Whether these individuals would benefit from additional zinc intake depends on a variety of factors: physiological or pathological condition of the individual, medications used by the individual, and bioavailability of the dietary zinc. Elderly Americans can ingest large amounts of tin and iron from canned foods and nutritional supplements, respectively. Any pathological condition or medication that reduces the absorption of zinc increases the loss of zinc from endogenous sources, or increases urinary losses of zinc could effectively increase a patient's requirement for zinc.
