Inadequate zinc predicts heart trouble in diabetics

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes, an inadequate blood level of zinc -- a micronutrient with antioxidant activity -- appears to increase the risk of heart attack and death from heart disease, a Finnish study hints.

"Theoretically our results are in favor of the possibility that zinc supplementation might be useful in preventing (heart-related) complications in patients with type 2 diabetes," the study team writes.

Dr. Minna Soinio from University of Turku and colleagues assessed death due to coronary heart disease and the incidence of heart attack in relation to serum zinc levels in 1,050 people, aged 45 to 64, who had type 2 diabetes for 8 years, on average.

During 7 years of follow up, 156 of the subjects died from heart disease and 254 had a fatal or non-fatal heart attack, the investigators report in the journal Diabetes Care.

According to the researchers, the average blood zinc level was significantly lower in men and women who died from heart disease than in those who did not. Among individuals with the lowest blood zinc levels, 21 percent died from heart disease compared with 13 percent of those individuals who had higher zinc levels.

Rates of fatal and nonfatal heart attack were also higher in subjects with the lowest zinc levels compared to those with higher concentrations (30 percent versus 22 percent).

Studies looking at whether zinc supplementation would benefit people with type 2 diabetes, a group at high risk for heart disease, are warranted, Soinio and colleagues conclude.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, March 2007.