Zinc in sickle cell disease.

Occurrence of zinc deficiency in adult sickle cell anemia subjects has been reported previously. Improvement in secondary sexual characteristics, normalization of plasma ammonia and serum testosterone levels, and reversal of dark adaptation abnormality and anergy following zinc supplementation in sickle cell anemia subjects have been observed. In this paper, we report the results of a controlled trial with zinc supplementation in 14- to 19-year-old sickle cell anemia subjects who were retarded in growth. Our data show that zinc supplementation significantly improved longitudinal growth and body weight in these subjects.