Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men and the second most
common cancer in women, with a mortality rate near 50%, which often occurring at the age
of 50 years. Using copper and zinc are an essential antioxidant that may lead to disease such
as CRC. Studies showed that some of the factors such as pain and psychological changes
could decrease the quality of life of patients with cancer. According to studies that zinc
supplements can improve their quality of life, the aim of this study is to investigating the
effect of zinc supplementation in quality of life of patients with colorectal cancer.
Methods: This review article was performed within articles published at PubMed, Science direct,
Google Scholar, SID and ISC from 2000 to 2019. The keywords were colorectal cancer, zinc
supplement and quality of life. By searching this database, 45articles were found, 20 of them
were not related with investigating and 10 of them by reading abstract were removed. All
articles chosen from English and Persian articles.
Results: Finally 10 articles were included in the study, in one study that performed in three groups of
rats treated with vitamin C, aspirin and zinc supplement showed that zinc reduced the risk of
colon cancer and also increased the susceptibility of cells to apoptosis. In another study of
patients undergoing chemotherapy for colorectal adenocarcinoma, one group received zinc
supplement and the other group received placebo for 16weeks post operatively until the fourth
cycle of chemotherapy, the results expressed that zinc supplement, was prevent fatigue and
improving the quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer. Also in one article that
examined the association between antioxidant supplement such as vitamin C, E, selenium,
zinc and quality of life of CRC patients, they found no benefit of antioxidant use in these
subjects.
Conclusion: It seems that zinc supplement can improve the quality of life in patient with colorectal cancer
but there isn’t definitive evidence yet, therefore need to be more research done at this topic.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Zinc supplement, Quality of life.