Zinc may provide relief from the annoying symptoms of a cold, including cough, sore throat and stuffy nose, new research suggests.
Researchers instructed 50 people with a cold to take a zinc lozenge containing 12.8 mg of zinc acetate, or a placebo, every 2 to 3 hours for as long as their symptoms persisted.
Each day, patients rated the severity of their symptoms including:
The zinc group reported symptoms for an average of 4.5 days and those in the placebo group for about 8 days
Runny nose and cough appeared to respond best to the mineral. Coughing lasted about 6 days in the group of patients taking a placebo compared with 3 days in the group taking zinc.
Side effects of zinc lozenges included dry mouth and constipation but the mineral did not appear to lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or stomach cramps, the findings suggest.
But consuming high doses of the mineral for more than 3 days can be dangerous, investigators warn. Too much zinc can lead to a deficiency of copper, a rare condition that can disrupt normal growth and metabolism.
Researchers recommend that if there is no clear evidence of improvement after 3 days of zinc treatment, this could indicate something more serious than a simple cold.
The study was funded by a foundation related to the company holding the patent for zinc lozenges.
Some researchers suggest that zinc may help to reduce cytokines, immune system proteins that help to drive inflammation, but the current investigation found no significant differences in levels of cytokines between the two groups.
Annals of Internal Medicine August 15, 2000;133:245-252, 302.
This is probably very old news for most of you. I have been using zinc in my practice for over 15 years, far before it was popular. The central issue though is that it needs to be sucked on NOT swallowed and smaller doses more frequently seem to work better. I usually advise patients to suck on a quarter lozenge every 30 minutes. If started early on this approach seems to work well for the clear majority of patients.
Two cautions should be heeded though; if the lozenges make one nauseous they should be stopped immediately as that is a sign of zinc toxicity. If you follow this guideline and listen to your body you will avoid the copper imbalance referenced in the study. Also most zinc tablets don't taste very good. After over ten years of experiments I found the following company to have the best tasting ones Theraids #5627 from Anabolics (800-445-6849). They have a small amount of fructose in them but it is consumed over such an extended period of time, the disruption to insulin physiology is not generally significant.
It is VERY important to rigidly exclude all sugars while you are sick, nothing sweet and usually avoiding all grains and underground vegetables is important to maximize your immune response during a cold.
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