ABSTRACT
In 1933, zinc was reported for the rst time to be essential for the growth of rats (Todd et al. 1933). Thirty years later, the rst studies in human subjects from the Middle East showed that this was also true for humans (Prasad et al. 1961, 1963a,b). However, with the exception of mental lethargy, little was mentioned in these reports on possible neurological effects of zinc deciency in these patients. Only in later studies was it found that zinc deciency might compromise emotional and cognitive functioning (Bhatnagar & Taneja 2001; Black 1998). To date, many studies have been performed, investigating the inuence of zinc deciency and zinc supplementation on human well-being and mental performance. However, particularly in mechanistic and behavioural studies, the majority of data available to date regarding the effects of zinc deciency on brain development and function later in life come from ndings in animal models (Hagmeyer et al. 2014).
