Zinc in ulcerative colitis: a therapeutic trial and report on plasma levels

Abstract

A double-blind controlled trial of oral zinc sulphate as adjuvant treatment in idiopathic ulcerative colitis or proctitis in relapse is reported. Fifty-one patients were treated, and the clinical and sigmoidoscopic improvement in the zinc treated patients was similar to that in patients receiving placebo. No difference was found between plasma zinc levels in a further 46 patients with idiopathic ulcerative colitis or proctitis and those obtained in a group of healthy controls.