I had a zinc thread on another board at one time. And I will use some of it
to construct this thread as well.

Zinc in general is just critical for health maintenance. And some drugs actually deplete it from us during therapy. ACE inhibitors used for blood pressure control and some congestive heart treatments, are main zinc depleters.
Hormone treatments (birth control pills), steroids, diuretics, some antiviral AIDS drugs, and acid lowering drugs for GERD are also common zinc depleters.

Zinc is essential for wound/skin lesion healing and maintenance. It is present in some nutritional supplements for acne, for example.
http://www.drugs.com/pdr/Nicomide_Tablets.html
Many people are familiar with Zinc Oxide (a diaper rash remedy)

In chronic care settings zinc sulfate along with Vit C are supplements used
to help control/heal bed sores and other wounds. (often the zinc used there is very high dose --OTC--but still ordered by physicians.)

Zinc is being explored in Alzheimer's as well:
http://www.alzinfo.org/research/causes/nongenetic/
But at this time details are not forthcoming as to the EXACT mechanisms of
zinc metabolism in the brain.

Zinc metabolism is deranged in a condition called Pyroluria. This is a liver
genetic error, where a by-product of heme (for hemoglobin) is produced in excess..called kryptopyrrole. This compound is not toxic in and of itself, but it complexes Vitamin B6 and zinc out of the blood and leads to excessive excretion in the urine, which leads to deficiency for patients. Supplementing these two nutrients corrects the neurological negative effects of their loss.

Zinc is essential for males...more so than females. But females need it for ovulation as well. Up to 5mg of zinc can be lost in seminal fluid for males. So many male vitamin preps are higher in zinc than traditional vitamin products.

Zinc is essential for immune support. People with chronic viral disease, need attention to it. Shingles and herpes especially. Zinc lozenges are commonly used for cold prevention, treatment. Cold-Eze is an example. Zinc is also in the Airborne remedy, and probably accounts for much of its minimal beneficial actions. Zinc used in nasal inhalers however, have shown negative effects, since topical application to mucous membranes in the nose can lead to loss of taste/smell.
Low levels of zinc in the blood can also be a predictor of loss of taste/smell
in certain patients.

Zinc supplements have changed over the years. And elemental concerns are also important to figure out dosing (as with magnesium and other minerals). We are lucky today to have some really good versions, to avoid the typical side effects of zinc-- which are nausea and vomiting. (a rather large deterent to use).

Later on in this thread, I will post papers, to illustrate the various important
findings for zinc. This post is just a brief overview.

I welcome comments and additions, as always.