TABLE 8.

Potential, emerging, and not useful zinc biomarkers

	Potential	Emerging	Not useful
Definitions	Biomarkers that show promise, but data are insufficient to establish specific cutoffs indicating zinc inadequacy in populations	Biomarkers for which there is some theoretical basis for a relation to zinc intake or status, but testing is insufficient to confirm the relation	Biomarkers that do not relate consistently to zinc intake or status
Biomarkers	Hair zinc	Nail zinc	Zinc-dependent enzymes
	Urinary zinc	Zinc-dependent proteins	Erythrocyte and leukocyte zinc
	Neurobehavioral function	Oxidative stress and DNA integrity
		Zinc kinetics
		Taste acuity