Objective:This study was conducted to explore whether zinc supplementation improves the disturbance of glucose and lipid metabolism in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats and how did these produce. Methods: T2DM rat model was established by feeding with high-sucrose-fat diet for 8 weeks followed by streptozotocin (STZ) (30 mg/kg, i.p). T2DM rats were randomly divided into four groups. The zinc supplementation groups were respectively administrated 1.6 mg/kg, 3.2 mg/kg and 6.4 mg/kg elemental zinc as zinc sulfate by gavage, while both the normal control group and untreated diabetic group received ultrapure water. After 6 weeks, we detected the indexes about serum zinc, blood glucose, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress and inflammatory cytokines, which including fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin (FINS), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), free fatty acids (FFA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), malonaldehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6. The results indicated that zinc supplementation significantly increased serum zinc and HDL-C levels and reduced FBG, FINS, HOMA-IR and serum TC, TG, LDL-C, FFA levels. The activities of antioxidant enzymes were significantly enhanced, while inflammatory cytokines were decreased in the zinc supplementation groups. The high dose of the zinc supplementation group (6.4 mg/kg·d) showed the best curative effects. Conclusion: The present study showed that zinc supplementation could improve metabolic disturbance of type 2 diabetic rats, and that could be related to augmenting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory ability.