A high proportion of nursing facility residents were found to have low zinc concentrations during an observational study.
The scientists found that those with normal blood zinc concentrations were about 50 percent less likely to develop pneumonia than those with low concentrations.
The same study found that among the facility residents, those who consumed 200 international units of vitamin E daily for one year were 20 percent less likely to get upper respiratory infections, such as colds, than those who took a placebo.
-- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
