That’s not setting the bar very high.
Yogi was smart when it came to stealing pic-a-nic baskets, but when it came to nutritional science-not so smart. Do you understand that your supposed expertise and honors in unrelated fields does nothing to convince us that you know what you are talking about on the subject at hand?
Could you at least provide some online links, please.
Of Youth and Age
Youth is not entirely a time of life - - - - it is a state of mind. It is not wholly a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips or supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions . . . Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals . . . You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart, there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old . . .
General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur
Signing off for today.
But this has even less to do with the topic at hand than your claims of a high I.Q. and your studies in unrelated fields.
He is equating critical thinking with pessimism and cynicism.
I…see.
gee, mensa here also, and in the years I worked as a machinist, and did other manual labor I have never had white spots in my nail [though i did have a whonkingly painful bloodblister on one toe from where the steel toe on my shoe was compressed to the point just short of crushing my poor toe by a dropped 6 inch valve …] and as i am highly allergic to bivalves, and dont take vitamins, I still dont have the dreaded white spots. I seem to have all my marbles, my screws all seem to be screwed in and locktited … no scrofula, acne, psoriasis, athleats feets or crotch rot, though I did recently break a bone in my foot…obviously i have serious zinc defficiency! :rolleyes:
I notice that you haven’t mentioned penis size. 
I chose your response in recognization of the most intelligence comment I’ve seen to date to place this post with references sighted.
Functional Consequences of Zinc Deficiency
Doctors Craig J. McClain, MD, Edward J. Kasarskis, Jr., MD, and John J. Allen, MD,
examined 262 studies on zinc deficiency.
The were with the Departments of Medicine and Neurology, Lexington VA Medical Center, Lexington, KY, and Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN.
The results were published in:
Progress in Food and Nutrition Science, Vol. 9, pp. 185-226, 1985, c 1985 Pergamon Press Ltd.
The paper reviews ten functional consequences of zinc deficiency. They are:
- Skin lesions
- Anorexis (with possible alterations in taste and smell acuity)
- Growth retardation
- Depressed wound healing
- Hypogonadism
- Altered immune function
- Impaired night vision, altered vitamin A metabolism
- Diarrhea
- Depressed mental function
- Teratogenesis
It also said, “A host of disease processes now are recognized to be complicated by zinc deficiency including alcoholic liver disease, sickle cell anemia, protein calorie malnutrition, and a variety of intestinal diseases including Crohn’s disease, spruce, short bowel syndrome and after jejunal ileal bypass.”
Folks.
I cannot believe that nobody has caught on to the fact that this is an elaborate Kaufman-esque whoosh!!!
At least, that is what I will choose to believe.
Oh! And I am the self-proclaimed foremost authority on that long hair that you sometimes get on your upper arm. You know? It’s really long, and generally blonde?
I know all about it.
Keep going Dave, you are entertaining the hell out of me.
Deficiencies in numerous vitamins and minerals cause major problems - anemia, beri-beri, scurvy, rickets, etc. Since you have that 22 year old cite handy, HOW deficient in Zinc were people with those conditions (i.e. what sort of amounts in mg/day did they consume)?
Well, I could ask mrAru if I can measure him… 
I wasn’t going to ask him that, I wasn’t even going to ask him if he had smelly feet - a sure sign of zinc deficiency.
The Manual of Clinical Nutrition, by Nutrition Publications (previously cited in detaill) lists “Smelly feet” as one of the consequences of zinc deficiency.
This was years before one of the University’s made the discovery of (the mechanics) that the healthy foot gives off an acidic gas that prevents the growth of bacteria. No dead bacteria, no smelly feet. The University intends to synthesize the gas and use it to impregnate odor eaters.
Don’t bother telling the people that zinc is probably much cheaper and it will solve the problem. A nationally syndicated radio medical talk show host advocated soaking the feet in tannic acid when a caller said he could wash his feet and change socks twice a day and still could not control the odor. The doctor wasn’t sure it would help, but it was the only thing he could think of.
Don’t bother asking me for the web site. Take my information at face value or find it yourself.
I had a skeptic on an ADD-AD/HD chat room. Another doctor put him in his place and questioned his ignorance. The doctor did a little study on his own and became the strongest advocate for zinc supplementation for a wide variety of ills.
Apparently everything is a sign of zinc deficiency in your world.
I see that, instead of providing any evidence, you’ve added more anecdotes, and of course, this-“Don’t bother asking me for a web site. Take my information at face value or find it yourself.”
Well, in veterinary medicine I have dealt with zinc related pathology, specifically zinc toxicity. Animals swallowing pieces of galvanized wire, certain hardware, pennies, etc can get pretty sick. A hemolytic anemia is common with zinc toxicity.
Unless a specific deficiency is diagnosed by a trained medical professional, I would assume most pets and people get plenty in their diets.
There is a zinc-responsive dermatosis that occurs in dogs. It is rare, and is not a true deficiency, but rather an increased genetic based need for zinc. I’ve never seen a case, but I have read about it. Sorry, no cite for this.
http://theaviary.com/s1295-66.shtml
http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/2005/Winter/ZICanine.htm
Keep going Dave, you are entertaining the hell out of me.
[/QUOTE]
I hope you find this entertaining:
Extract from a four-part article published in a non-medical journal:
Today, is the culprit Aluminum in its many forms that is the basic cause of the most insidious and debilitating disease affecting the elderly called Alzheimer’s Disease?
Most people who have this adult dementia die within eight years of their diagnosis, although that interval may be as short as one year or as long as twenty years. It is the fourth leading cause of death in adults after heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
Tentative evidence indicates that this disease should be added to the list of diseases caused by a zinc deficiency. It is know that "zinc is widely distributed throughout the central nervous system of the human body where it participates in diverse neuronal/glial metabolic processes, many of which directly influence the electrical excitability of the brain and subsequent behavior. In people with adequate intake of zinc, “there exists within the hippocampal mossy fiber system a unique pool of zinc.”
It appears the body, attempting to perform the 3OO or so enzyme functions requiring zinc, substitute aluminum for zinc in the body’s central nervous system. Autopsies of Alzheimer’s disease victims reveal aluminum lesions in the brain and throughout the body at various “electrical connector” points.
Coin World Magazine described how metals corrode. A little background information about metals might be useful here. In the metals industry, energy is required to convert an ore to a metal. The amount of energy needed varies from metal to metal, and the more energy needed, the easier it is for the corrosion of that metal to start.
“The Electromotive Series of metals ranks metals in terms of the amount of energy needed to process them from an ore to a metal. The metals are listed from the most noble, such as gold and platinum, to the least noble, or base, such as zinc and aluminum.” See below.
“Metals at the top of the scale require the least amount of energy to produce and those at the bottom, the most. The Electromotive Series establishes a hierarchy of corrosion. Given the same environmental conditions baser metals will corrode preferentially to more noble metals.”
“Metal objects are composed of many individual molecules and are rarely perfectly uniform. Heterogeneity within a single metal will become anodes. The anode can switch constantly so that over time corrosion on the surface may be fairly uniform.”
Electromotive series
From noble metals
Gold
Platinum
Silver
Copper
Lead
Tin
Nickel
Iron
Zinc
Aluminum
To base mental
It appears that the body substitutes aluminum for zinc. Heterogeneity within the aluminum causes it to become an anode and that combined with the constant flow of the oxygen-enriched fluids found in the brain results in corrosion at the connectors (autopsied as aluminum lesions in the body). The process may take many decades resulting in Alzheimer’s disease for the elderly. Rita Hayworth, a movie star from the 40’s was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 40. (It is probably no coincidence that she married the Aga Khan of Iran, and lived in one of two nations considered to be totally zinc deficient Iran and Egypt.)
It might appear that Alzheimer’s disease could be prevented by adequate intake of the mineral zinc. If the body had adequate zinc, it would not need to resort to substituting aluminum in the body’s electrical system.”
The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) as published by the United States National Academy of Sciences, is 15 mg daily.
Not all “experts” agree that 15 mg daily is adequate to perform the 300 or so functions involving zinc. Many sources site various dosages. I have had prescribed to me while in the hospital 200 mg daily. The single tablet came individually packaged. I now take 42-1/2 mg daily.
I feel one should never take more than 50 mg daily without the supervision of a health care specialist. If excess zinc is ingested, a zinc-copper imbalance within the body results in the zinc being depleted. This results in an inadequate supply of zinc available to the body for use. Zinc is more readily absorbed within the body when processed into a form called zinc gluconate, zinc picolinate or zinc chelate. Also, it compliments calcium and magnesium and consideration should be given to taking zinc in combination with these two elements. Most grocery and health food stores sell them in combination as a single pill/capsule/caplet.
An October 1990 Harvard Health Letter, copyrighted by Harvard Medical School Health Publications Group published an article titled: "Alzheimer’s Disease – Is It Aluminum? None of the material from the article has been included in this article. But they are obviously fully aware of the possible causes of Alzheimer’s Disease. As far back as February 1985, Prevention magazine published an article titled: Zinc and B12 May Halt Brain Disorders. Again, no material was taken from this article.
It may be that the road to Alzheimer’s disease starts during ones early youth. Two of the many clinical manifestations of zinc deficiency are behavioral disturbances and depressed mental function.
The idea that it may start early in life is indicated by a February 1996 article that shows linguistic ability in early life may well determine susceptibility to Alzheimer’s Disease in later life. The study concerned 93 nuns that were required to write a brief autobiography before they took their vows. Brain autopsies were performed on fourteen nuns who died while the study was taking place. This was over fifty years after becoming nuns. Five were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at autopsy. They all exhibited low idea density in early life. (Depressed mental function?) This was not the case with the other nine.
In 1995, Canadian studies show evidence of a link between high levels of aluminum in drinking water and Alzheimer’s disease. When they met with US EPA staff, the basic US response was that the evidence was insufficient.
As far back as 1989, the November issue of California reported California officials have been adding aluminum sulfate, or alum, to the drinking water for decades. They reported "evidence is mounting that alum is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.”
But, who wants to put a one hundred billion-dollar a year industry out of business (Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease patients)? That is about fourteen times the yearly income from the motion picture industry. It is about 18.5 times the yearly income of all tribal gambling in the United States (1998 figures).
Alternative Medicine’s legendary leader William Campbell Douglass II, M.D., expanded the problem of aluminum in the drinking water by comments concerning fluoridation of the water. He says “In Scandinavia, in fact all of Europe, and nearly every other medically advanced nation, they have now banned the practice” of putting fluoride in drinking water.
This is “Because fluoride makes your body absorb extra aluminum. And where does the aluminum go? Your brain. And what metal shows up alarmingly in the brains of Alzheimer’s victims? You guessed it.” He adds the comment:
“Hmm. Maybe our health authorities have been drinking too much water?”
Apparently some doctors said if zinc is the problem, let us treat Alzheimer’s disease patients with zinc.
Now the illness took 40-50-60 years to manifest it. How long do you think the “treatment” lasted?
48 hours! The patients became confused and disoriented. This must have scared hell out of the doctors.
If you are thirsty and take a drink of water, your body is satisfied.
If you are hungry and eat, the body is satisfied.
If you need zinc, the body immediately grabs the zinc and puts it to work. Apparently when it tried to use the zinc to wire the brain, it resulted in “sloughing” off of the plaques. They were large enough that they apparently couldn’t get through the brain blood barrier. So the plague “wondered” into other areas of the brain. Who knows what would have happened had they simply introduced small amounts of zinc to give the body time to react. Also, given time, the body might have been able to process, break down and rid the plaques resulting in a cure for the patient.
The long-range solution is prevention through zinc supplements. (Inasmuch as food does not provide the RDA.) However, research is now directed at a couple of specific chemicals in the brain. The finger is no longer pointed at aluminum as being the primary cause. Do aluminum companies fund the new research? 300+ enzymes are adversely impacted by the zinc deficiency, so going after a couple of the resulting disruptions isn’t the answer (in my not so humble opinion).
The New England Journal of Medicine will not even attempt to obtain peer review of the new research. They admitted the reason for no longer seeking peer review was the fact that they cannot find anyone who is not “compromised” by the funding they receive.
Sad!
Can the nation afford to gamble that early supplementation with zinc is not the solution? Can you afford to gamble that early and continuous zinc supplementation is not the solution?
Could you at least give us the name of this magazine and the date this article was published? If not, I’m going to count this as yet another anecdote.
That is the antithesis of critical thinking; try everything until something works. I have heard the same logic used to promote magnetic therapy, aloe vera, noni juice, chiropractic, homeopathy, aromatherapy, high colonics, chelation therapy, colloidal silver, antioxidants, etc., etc., etc.
Do you use all of these therapies? Why not? Can you afford not to?
This guy reminds of the guy who was so freaked out about fluoride in the water - all opinions and anecdotes and no evidence. Those two should set up shop together.