Anorexia nervosa and zinc: Letter to the Editor

During the last few years there has been a growing interest in the role of zinc metabolism in the symptomatology of anorexia nervosa (AN) [1-3]. The hypothesis is that in most cases of AN there are serious disturbances in zinc absorption, distribution and secretion, resulting in some of the classical secondary symptoms of AN. The same symptoms are found in zinc deficiency [4]. Reports have been made on investigations of zinc status in patients with AN, in terms of zinc absorption [5], plasma zinc level [6], plasma and neutrophil zinc in relation to plasma albumin [7J and taste for zinc [8]. Lately, there have been reports on zinc treatment in AN [9].