Shi was short, and his mother was very anxious. She heard from a colleague that her son was also short when he was young, but he grew taller with zinc supplements. Shi’s mother came to the hospital to ask, “Can zinc supplementation really make him grow taller?”
Zinc is one of the essential trace elements in the human body, and it is an important component of many metabolism-promoting substances and enzymes in the body. Therefore, zinc deficiency affects the growth and development of children, and can cause “zinc deficiency dwarfism” in serious cases, which mainly affects children. Children and adolescents are particularly sensitive to zinc deficiency because of their rapid growth and development. The onset of zinc deficiency is characterized by impaired growth and development, low sexual function, incomplete development of secondary sexual characteristics, lack of menstruation in women, amenorrhea, enlarged liver and spleen, rough skin with hyperpigmentation, and zinc deficiency anemia.
Recent studies have shown that zinc not only affects appetite and digestive enzymes, but also has a direct effect on the formation of collagen tissue, bone growth, the synthesis of growth hormone and the conversion of T4 to T3, all of which can cause growth disorders.
Therefore, short stature in children can be caused by zinc deficiency, but short stature in children can also be caused by many other reasons. If this child has a zinc deficiency in the blood, it can be supplemented, and if there is no zinc deficiency there is no need for zinc supplementation, so not all short children need zinc supplementation.
The presence of zinc deficiency can be understood by measuring serum zinc. The results of measuring zinc in hair are not very reliable because different parts of the hair and different washing methods can affect the results.