Putative Therapeutic Roles for Zinc

Abstract

The trace element, zinc, is both a nutrient and a drug. As a nutrient, its role in correcting zinc deficiency states is incontrovertible. That topic has been reviewed in Chaps. 17 and 18 of this volume. However, a variety of therapeutic roles for zinc, apart from those associated with the reversal of nutritional depletion or recovery from zinc-deficiency-related symptoms, have been suggested. This domain of zinc as a drug will be the focus of the present chapter.