A Study of the Zinc Deficiency in a Section of Rural People in Bengal, India by Soil Fortification

Zinc concentration in the soil of some area in Hoogly is less than normal. Flax seed crop was grown in Zn deficient soil of acid lateritic type. The oil extracted from the oil seed obtained from soil fortified with Zn contained higher level of Zn and was fed to persons for judging their biochemical changes with respect to fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol (TLC), HDL cholesterol (HDLC), LDL cholesterol (LDLC), and triglyceride (TG). The results revealed that feeding flax oil to the volunteers for a period of four years brought considerable changes in lowering down the levels of TLC, LDLC, TG and FBS. However, flax oil with more zinc content has shown more reductions in FBS and LDLC levels. The study tries to find out the relationship between zinc concentration in oil and incidence of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.