Dr. Louise Achey
Zinc is an essential mineral that is essential to many key processes in our body. Zinc helps you synthesize DNA and other essential proteins. It also has a vital role assisting your immune system, in healing wounds, and helping you smell and taste your favorite foods and enjoy the aroma of flowers. Since your body cannot store zinc, you need to get it from your diet. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of zinc is currently 11mg/day.
Oysters contain the highest concentration of dietary zinc. Other foods high in zinc include red meat and poultry. Crab, lobster, beans, nuts, dairy products, and whole grains are other good sources of zinc.
Zinc deficiency is more common in the elderly. According to one study looking at average daily zinc intake, adding up the zinc in both the diet and any supplements, 20 to 25% of older Americans get less zinc than they need.
You don’t have to be elderly to be low in zinc. Vegetarians and people on “water pills” can also be zinc-deficient. When you take a “water pill” or diuretic, along with the extra sodium and water flushed out by the medicine, your body also eliminates more zinc.
Whole grains and beans contain compounds called phytates as well as zinc. Phytates attach to zinc in food and interfere with your ability to absorb it from your gut. Vegetarian diets contain more phytates than typical diets because they contain more whole grains and beans along with less zinc-rich red meat and poultry. Some suggest that people eating a vegetarian diet may need up to 60% more zinc than recommended by the Food and Drug Administration’s RDA.
Oral supplements of zinc can treat both zinc deficiency and Wilson disease. Wilson disease is a rare genetic condition in which your body to be unable to process copper, causing copper to accumulate in your liver and other organs. This causes liver failure and death if not recognized and treated. Oral zinc supplements treat Wilson disease by inhibiting copper absorption.
Zinc stimulates your immune system and inhibits viral replication. This makes it an interesting option in treating viruses like skin warts and the common cold.
One study looking at people who had at least 15 warts and who had failed conventional wart treatments divided them into 2 groups, one group taking oral zinc 10mg/kg (up to 600mg) daily, and the other one taking a placebo. Sixty percent of those taking zinc had no warts left at the end of one month. Within two months, 86% were wart-free, compared with no improvement in the placebo group.
There are about 500 million colds per year in America, with an average of 2.5 colds per year for most Americans. Can zinc help treat the common cold?
YES! There is evidence proving that zinc supplements shorten the length of a cold and make its symptoms less severe.
The effect is most powerful when starting zinc within the first 24 hours of cold symptoms. You can shorten the length of a cold by an average of one day by taking zinc acetate lozenges containing 13mg of elemental zinc taken up to 6 times daily.
Zinc supplements interfere with the effectiveness of certain antibiotics by attaching to them, decreasing their absorption.
Fluoroquinolones like ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin and tetracyclines like minocycline and doxycycline should be taken at different times than zinc. To avoid a treatment failure by not absorbing the entire dose, you should take zinc at least 2 hours before or 4 to 6 hours after taking one of these antibiotics.
Here Are 4 Tips on Taking Zinc Supplements:
1. Stock up beforehand.
Keep zinc lozenges on hand BEFORE your next cold, so you can start them as soon as you notice cold symptoms.
2. Start as soon as possible.
If at all possible, start taking zinc within the first 24 hours of noticing cold symptoms. The longer you wait, the less effective it will be in decreasing the severity and the length of your cold. The recommended dose is one 13mg zinc gluconate lozenge up to 6 times daily for up to 6 days.
3. Don’t mix zinc supplements with certain antibiotics.
Separate ciprofloxacin (Cipro®), levofloxacin (Levaquin®), tetracycline and doxycycline from zinc. Take zinc supplements either 2 hours before these antibiotics or 4-6 hours afterward.
4. Space out any iron and zinc supplements.
Zinc binds to iron tablets in the gut, preventing you from absorbing the iron. If you are anemic, separate taking iron tablets from zinc by at least 2 hours.
Dr. Louise Achey, Doctor of Pharmacy is a 40-year veteran of pharmacology and author of Why Dogs Can’t Eat Chocolate: How Medicines Work and How YOU Can Take Them Safely. Check out her NEW website TheMedicationInsider.com for daily tips on how to take your medicine safely. 2020 Louise Achey
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