Does Zinc Deficiency Lead to Cancer?

Zinc deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies I see. That’s because, due to our modern agriculture techniques, especially the use of artificial fertilizers, GMO foods, and glyphosate-containing herbicides (such as Roundup), our foods are now zinc deficient.

Zinc deficiency can cause a host of health problems. These include slow growth in children, loss of appetite, impaired immune function, hair loss, decreased taste, decreased balance, tremors, decreased night vision, prostate swelling, diarrhea, impotence, and eye and skin disorders.

But that’s not all. A new study is adding to this list. It turns out that zinc deficiency also plays a role in cancer. Especially esophageal cancer.

The authors of the study found that zinc deficiency can contribute to the progression of esophageal cancer. It has to do with something called orai1. Research has found that orai1 is highly active in tumor tissues removed from patients with esophageal cancer. And the more active orai1 is, the more aggressive the cancer is. That’s because orai1 accelerates cancer cell growth.

The researchers used esophageal cancer cells cultured either with or without added zinc. They showed that zinc supplementation “significantly inhibits proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.” That means it inhibited the growth of the cancer cells. And then, when they chelated the zinc out, the anti-cancer effect of zinc disappeared. This is strong evidence for the anti-cancer effect of zinc supplementation. But, how did it work?

The researchers were able to show that the zinc supplement worked by “rapid inhibitory effects on orai1.” They could determine this because when they took the effect of orai1 out of the equation, the zinc lost all of its anti-cancer activity. The authors concluded, “These data suggest that zinc may inhibit cell proliferation of esophageal cancer cells through orai1-mediated intracellular Ca2+ oscillations and reveal a possible molecular basis for zinc-induced cancer prevention and Orai1-SOCE signaling pathway in cancer cells.” This is just a lot of fancy wording because zinc supplementation inhibits esophageal cancer growth through a now-known pathway.

According to the authors of a recent review article on micronutrient deficiencies such as zinc deficiency, “Micronutrient deficiencies are common, affecting an estimated two billion people worldwide. The most common deficiencies exist for vitamin A, folate, iron, iodine, and zinc.” If you’re depending on your foods for all of your nutrition, you could be depending in vain. Even organic foods are low in zinc. You have to take a regular zinc supplement. I recommend at least 15 mg per day.