Top 10 Nuts and Seeds Highest in Zinc

Photo of Daisy Whitbread Written by Daisy Whitbread
BSc (Hons) MSc DipION
Photo of Dr. Patricia Shelton Medically Reviewed by
Dr. Patricia Shelton
Evidence Based. References sourced from PubMed.
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Top 10 Nuts and Seeds Highest in Zinc

Zinc is an essential mineral with roles in immune function, protein synthesis, wound healing, DNA synthesis, and cell division. (1,2)

The current daily value (DV) for zinc is 11mg. (3) This is a target intended for the general population, but some people may have different needs for zinc based on their age, gender, diet, or medical factors.

Zinc may be of particular interest to vegans and vegetarians. Compounds present in many plant foods, such as phytates, limit the absorption of zinc from these foods. (4) To compensate for this, people on a plant based diet should aim to eat about 50% more zinc than those in the general population. (5)

Nuts and seeds high in zinc include squash seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, pecans, chia seeds, flax seeds, Brazil nuts, and almonds.

Below is a list of the top 10 nuts high in zinc, ranked by a 1 ounce (oz) handful. For more see the article for vegan and vegetarian sources of zinc, high zinc vegetables, and high zinc fruits.

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Data Sources and References

  1. Haase H, Rink L. Zinc and the immune system Metallomics. 2014 Jul;6(7):1175-80. doi: 10.1039/c3mt00353a. 24531756
  2. Rasouli M, Rahimi A, Soleimani M, Keshel SH. Zinc in Wound Healing Modulation Acta Histochem. 2021 Oct;123(7):151785. doi: 10.1016/j.acthis.2021.151785. Epub 2021 Sep 6. 34500185
  3. U.S.FDA - Daily Value on the New Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels
  4. Gibson RS, Raboy V, King JC. Dietary factors influencing zinc absorption Nutr Rev. 2018 Nov 1;76(11):793-804. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuy028. 30010865
  5. Agnoli C, Baroni L, Bertini I, Ciappellano S, Fabbri A, Papa M, Pellegrini N, Sbarbati R, Scarino ML, Siani V, Sieri S. Zinc and vegetarian diets Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2017 Dec;27(12):1037-1052. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2017.10.020. Epub 2017 Oct 31. 29174030
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