ABSTRACT
Zinc is an essential micronutrient for all forms of life and plays a critical structural and functional role in multiple enzyme systems involved in gene expression, cell division and growth, immunologic and reproductive functions. Clinical zinc deficiency in humans was first described in Iran in 1961, when the consumption of diets with low zinc bioavailability due to high phytic acid content was associated with delayed sexual development and “adolescent nutritional dwarfism” [1] and later recognized in a group of patients from Egypt with hypogonadism, anemia and hepatosplenomegaly [2]. Since then, zinc insufficiency has been recognized as an important public health issue, especially in developing countries [3].
