Performance Trace Minerals: A Category of One

With increasing consumer demands and animal nutrition requirements, animal producers need to keep sustainability and animal wellness at the forefront while still maintaining a profitable operation. For more than 45 years, our peer-reviewed research and proven results on trace mineral uptake, absorption and biological efficacy have helped livestock, equine poultry and aquaculture producers achieve these goals.

Zinc, copper, iron, manganese and selenium are essential trace minerals that are vital for animal growth and development, healthy reproduction and improved ability to defend and recover more quickly from disease.

For trace minerals to be utilized by an animal, they have to reach the small intestine, be absorbed in the intestinal cells or enterocytes and pass into the blood. Finally, the minerals need to be delivered to the target cells within the animal’s body.

All Trace Minerals Are Not Created Equal

In order to be utilized efficiently, a bonded mineral must be water soluble, stable, absorbable and metabolically available. There are three types of trace minerals on the market today: inorganic, organic and performance trace minerals; but only one of these meets all four criteria.

Inorganic trace minerals are bonded to an inorganic molecule that doesn’t contain carbon, such as sulfate or oxide. This makes them relatively easy to produce and inexpensive to administer. But today’s animal nutrition requirements are higher than inorganics can meet.

Organic trace minerals are bonded to a carbon-containing molecule, potentially making them more absorbable than inorganic trace minerals. However, a trace mineral’s performance depends on how strong and stable that bond is. Most traditional organic trace minerals dissociate into ionic mineral in the stomach just like the inorganics and tend to have lower economic value.

Unlike inorganic and organic trace mineral sources, Zinpro Performance Minerals^® — the only performance trace minerals on the market — are complex trace minerals bonded to an amino acid, resulting in the only trace mineral source that meets the four essential criteria mentioned earlier.

How Are Performance Trace Minerals Absorbed?

Antagonists are agents that can bind or block an inorganic or organic mineral in its pathway, making the mineral unavailable to the animal. When metal ions travel through the gastrointestinal tract, some are captured by antagonists, some will be blocked from uptake and some will simply be excreted without being absorbed.

If inorganic and dissociated organic sources of trace minerals reach the enterocyte, they use the metal ion transporter pathway to be absorbed. This pathway can be blocked by other minerals. Once in the enterocyte, ionic metals can bind to proteins such as metallothionein, which restrict the entry of ionic minerals into circulation.

Zinpro Performance Minerals utilize a unique pathway for absorption: the amino acid transporter. They minimize the various antagonistic interactions to which other trace mineral sources are subject and, therefore, reach the intestinal lining. Furthermore, as the efficiency of amino acid absorption varies by amino acid, Zinpro Performance Minerals utilize amino acid ligands that ensure effective absorption of both the amino acid and the mineral.

Zinpro Performance Minerals enter and leave circulation in a different form than ionic minerals and are excreted at a slower rate.

Take the Proven Path

By supplementing your animal nutrition program with Zinpro Performance Minerals, you can ensure that more essential nutrients are being absorbed and used by the animal. Using a more effective source of trace minerals minimizes the need to feed excessive levels of trace minerals and results in less waste, contributing to a more sustainable animal production.

This is why Zinpro Performance Minerals are in a category of one.

Visit us online to see our variety of performance trace mineral products. To learn more about supplementing your animal nutrition program with performance trace minerals, contact your Zinpro representative today.

---