Can zinc supplements snuff the sniffles?

No consistently effective therapy for colds has been well documented, but evidence suggests that several possible mechanisms may make zinc helpful.  Start sucking a zinc filled lozenge at the first sign of a sore throat, and take three daily until you feel better.

Discovered By a Three-Year-Old
The zinc lozenge as a possible cold cure was first discovered in 1979 when George Eby of Austin, Texas, gave his 3-year old daughter, Karen, a 50 mg. zinc gluconate tablet. Karen had leukemia and her father was giving her high doses of zinc and other nutrients to help rebuild her T-cell immune system after chemotherapy. On this particular day Karen had a severe cold. Since her throat was too sore to swallow the tablet, she tried to chew it, but fell asleep with most of the tablet still in her mouth.

When she awoke two hours later, her cold symptoms were gone and there was no relapse. The same thing happened when Eby tried the remedy on other family members, friends and co-workers. Then, in 1981, the effectiveness of zinc lozenges was confirmed by a double-blind trial. Zinc gluconate lozenges reduced the average duration of the common cold by seven days

Do zinc lozenges help to avoid colds as well?
We know that zinc supplements can help you get over a cold more quickly.  New research shows that daily zinc supplements can also slash your odds of catching colds in the first place.

People who took 45 milligrams of zinc gluconate daily for a year got one third as many colds and respiratory infections as people who took a placebo.

The study was done in 2006 at the Wayne State University School of medicine in Detroit.  That’s a Midwest location that gets rugged winters.

Contraindications
More patients in the zinc group than in the placebo group had side effects for which the biggest ones were nausea and bad-taste reactions.  Click here to read what Wikipedia has to say about the pros and cons.

Chronic zinc intake of greater than 40 mg/day can lead to malfunctioning of the immune system and chronic fatigue. Various brands of lozenges have between 5 and 24 mg of zinc in each lozenge.

Another 2006 study revealed that there is no credible evidence that Zinc Lozenges can actually fight the common cold.

An analysis of 14 studies on the effectiveness of zinc lozenges from the last 20 years found fault with 10 of the studies.

Is all of this confusing?  The answer is yes for us.  It’s too bad that all research studies can’t agree.

Popularity: 1% [?]