Healing: The Unexpected Properties of Zinc

The amount of zinc in the human body is so small that textbooks offhandedly record its presence as "a trace." That trace, though, seems important indeed. Small as it is, the body's normal zinc supply is a vital factor in growth. If the supply is increased with daily capsules of an inexpensive zinc compound, said a report sent by Air Force Major Walter J. Pories to the International Congress of Military Medicine in Bangkok, tissue grows so quickly that wounds tend to heal far faster than usual.

It was quite by accident that University of Rochester researchers first discovered zinc's...