Zinc prevents death in diabetics

Low blood levels of Zinc may predispose the general public to cardiovascular diseases. This study was conducted to look at the effect of Zinc levels in type 2 diabetics. The study included 1,059 type 2 diabetics, aged 45-64 years, who were followed for 7 years. The patients with lower Zinc levels had a higher risk of dying from coronary heart disease than those with higher levels (higher being over 14.1 micro-mol/l). Those with lower levels had a 30% increased risk of suffering a fatal heart attack and a 22% increase in nonfatal heart attack risk; taken together that is a large increased risk of any type, either fatal or survivable heart attack. In analyzing the results further it was found that there was a 70% increased risk of dying from a heart attack even after adjusting for confounding factors such as obesity or cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The study is published in the March 2007 issue of the journal Diabetes Care.