[Effect of zinc on the body in protein-calorie malnutrition]

It is shown that addition of zinc into the ration of pigs suffering from protein calorie deficiency leads to increased food consumption and its utilization in the body attended by a rise of the protein and fat absorption coefficient and by diminution of food expenditure for body mass increment. Immune processes are intensified which is expressed in the growth of the leucocyte count, phagocytic coefficient and blood neutrophil index. The nutrition improvement is manifested by the increase of body mass increment, red blood cell number and hemoglobin level in the blood, and by the shift of the leucocytic formula to the left; skin lesions disappear. In most animals these effects of zinc are manifest no less than the effect of protein addition to the ration. The most pronounced effect is obtained when zinc and protein are used simultaneously.