Zinc and selenium deficiency affects men's health: Don't starve yourself.

**Don't starve yourself-zinc and selenium deficiencies affect men's health.**

Currently, deficiencies in trace elements such as zinc, selenium, iodine, calcium, and iron are very common among men in my country, which affects their growth and development, reproductive health, and longevity to varying degrees.

Zinc is an essential trace element for maintaining human health, promoting growth and development, strengthening the immune system, and regulating brain cell function. The total amount of zinc in a normal human body is approximately 33.3 grams, mainly distributed in the skin, muscles, liver, hair, saliva, testes, epididymis, prostate, bones, red blood cells, and eyes, with the highest concentrations in the testes, muscles, bones, and skin. Although zinc accounts for less than one ten-thousandth of the total zinc in the human body, it plays a vital role in human health and reproductive and physiological functions, especially for men. Zinc is an important component of more than seventy synthetic enzymes in the human body and is directly related to the activity of more than two hundred enzymes. It is particularly involved in male reproductive physiology, maintaining sexual function, increasing sperm count and motility, participating in testosterone synthesis, and participating in the composition of human proteins. Semen is rich in zinc, which plays an important role in maintaining sperm motility. Reports indicate that a normal male's semen should maintain a zinc content of 15-30 mg/100 ml to meet healthy standards. Below this standard indicates zinc deficiency or loss. Zinc deficiency can inhibit growth and development, as well as the development of sex organs and secondary sexual characteristics, to varying degrees. Under normal circumstances, an adult male loses up to 1.8 mg of zinc in his semen during a single sexual encounter, equivalent to the zinc content of 300 grams of lean meat. The prostate gland has the highest zinc concentration in the human body, and zinc is an essential element for maintaining its structure and function. Zinc deficiency can lead to an increased copper-zinc ratio in prostate tissue, thereby interfering with the metabolism of male hormones, increasing dihydrotestosterone levels, and causing abnormal enlargement of the prostate tissue.

Nutritionists believe that the only correct way to prevent zinc deficiency is through a balanced diet, which means avoiding picky eating or unbalanced diets from a young age, so that enough zinc can be obtained from a regular diet.

Food sources of zinc include: animal sources, such as pork liver, beef tongue, bull penis, lamb kidney, pork kidney, lean meat, fish, oysters, crab, seaweed, clams, and mussels; plant sources, such as peanuts, soybeans, radishes, potatoes, Chinese cabbage, carrots, lentils, eggplant, leafy greens, melons, bananas, apples, lychees, walnuts, and almonds; fruits such as apples, pears, bananas, and lychees; nuts such as sunflower seeds, walnuts, and peanuts; as well as sesame seeds, tea, cocoa, and whole milk powder.

Drug sources, such as: Polygonum multiflorum, Platycladus orientalis seed, peach kernel, tortoise shell, turtle shell, zinc gluconate, zinc oxide, zinc tablets, etc.

Among these sources of zinc, zinc supplements have the highest zinc content. However, zinc supplementation must be done under a doctor's prescription and should not be overdose, otherwise it can lead to "zinc poisoning." Therefore, zinc supplements should not be abused. From a nutritional perspective, zinc is lost during food preparation and consumption due to neutralization reactions and high-temperature volatilization. Ultimately, most of the zinc ingested is insufficient to maintain or meet the sexual physiological needs of adult men. Moreover, some men have a long-term vegetarian diet or picky eating habits, or have chronic diseases such as diabetes that restrict their dietary intake, making them very prone to zinc deficiency. If a person eats a normal meal every day, plus 120 grams of animal products, they can obtain 4.2 mg of zinc; eating about 1000 grams of grains and vegetables can obtain 10-15 mg of zinc, totaling 14-19 mg; and the zinc stored in the skin, bones, muscles, and hair is sufficient to meet normal needs.

In 1973, the World Health Organization of the United Nations first declared that selenium is an "essential trace element indispensable for the life activities of humans and animals." Approximately 72% of my country's regions are internationally recognized as selenium-deficient areas. Low selenium levels in the natural environment, extremely low selenium content in grains and natural plants, and the inability of the human body to synthesize selenium, coupled with continuous selenium loss during disease prevention, all contribute to selenium deficiency in the human body.

Selenium deficiency in the human body can lead to more than forty diseases, including constipation, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, liver disease, weakened immunity, gastritis, duodenal ulcers, cataracts, picky eating in children, kidney disease, asthma, rheumatism, prostate hormone imbalance, intellectual decline, skin aging, fatigue, and tumors.

Selenium plays a crucial role in male semen quality. It is an essential component of glutathione peroxidase, which prevents lipid peroxidation from damaging sperm cell membranes and also protects against cadmium-induced testicular damage. Therefore, selenium deficiency can lead to decreased sperm motility and male infertility.

Research at Thomas University School of Medicine found that feeding mice a selenium-rich diet resulted in lifespans exceeding the maximum lifespan of rodents. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China observed selenium levels in a group of centenarians and found that their selenium levels were 3 to 6 times higher than those of healthy individuals. This demonstrates that the amount of selenium in the human body affects lifespan.