5 Reasons why Zinc is so important

Quite often we discuss the importance or perceived importance of supplements on our personal training courses. In most cases students express the importance of supplement protein, creatine and other ‘performance’ orientated supplements. Very few students mention key / health orientated supplements such as Zinc and Magnesium etc. These in our opinion are just as important as protein shakes, if not more so. After all, if our health is compromised or our testosterone production is not as optimal as it could be due to poor nutrition then it doesn’t matter how much protein we consume, building muscle will still be difficult.

The purpose of this short article is to highlight just 6 of the many benefits which supplementing Zinc could have on your health and muscle building goals.

• Improve testosterone production: Zinc is responsible for the conversion of androstenedione to testosterone, and if coupled with high-intensity workouts, the body can produce even higher levels of testosterone. Unfortunately in the UK most individuals are deficient in Zinc for a number of reasons.
• Improve immune system: Zinc is a trace mineral which helps improve your immune system and also reduce inflammation. If your goal is hypertrophy then the reduction of inflammation will help you digest and  uptake key nutrients. As well as this, if your immune system is efficient then all other systems such as your endocrine system have a better chance of performing properly and help you with your muscle building goals. Recently Zinc has also been used to help treat common colds, high cholesterol, ADHD, acne and even HIV!
• Improve strength with Zinc: As well as improving the production of testosterone, Zinc can also help with hormone production such as Growth Hormone and Insulin Like-Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) all of which are needed for strength and performance goals.
• Support reproductive health: Zinc not only helps improve reproductive health in men, but it also helps the reproductive health in women. Zinc helps women use estrogen and progestrogen efficiently. Excess amounts of estrogen not only make body composition goals harder to achieve but it’s also linked with poor reproductive health and also breast cancer.
• Improve Insulin Sensitivity: Insulin sensitivity is key for body composition. If you are insulin resistant then you are not only at risk of developing Type II Diabetes but you will also find it harder to drop body fat and encourage hypertrophy. In fact, a lot of the UK’s top body composition coaches look to improve insulin sensitivity immediately with clients. This makes it far more easier to achieve their fat loss goals. Zinc can improve insulin sensitivity by improving the ability of insulin to bind to cells, once insulin is bound to a cell the glucose (sugar) it is transporting can then enter the cell membrane. If this doesn’t occur then Glucose will remain in the blood stream and eventually turn into fat and be stored via lipogenesis.

At FHQ we hope you found this short blog interesting and useful. If you have any questions on the above or any of our blogs then please don’t hesitate to call us FREE on 08001123431