Mastering Nutrition Episode 28
chrismasterjohnphd.com
Which Forms of Zinc Should I Take as Supplements?
The best-studied forms of zinc are gluconate, acetate, sulfate, and citrate. All of these have excellent absorption. Zinc picolinate and zinc oxide are not as reliable. Other forms have not been studied as well, but methionine chelates are probably very bioavailable.
I recommend using supplements that come in 10-20 mg per serving. Doses of 25-30 mg are probably safe on the background of a diet rich in copper and other minerals, but unnecessary. Doses of 50 mg can cause nausea when taken on an empty stomach, are rarely needed, are likely to exceed the capacity to absorb zinc by a large degree, and likely to induce a copper deficiency.
What Dose of Zinc Supplements Should I Take and When Should I Take It?
Zinc supplements are best taken on an empty stomach. Wait at least three hours after your previous meal, and take it at least one hour before your next meal. For example, wake up, take the zinc, wait an hour, then eat breakfast. Or, eat breakfast, wait three hours, take the zinc, wait an hour, then eat lunch.
If taking more than one tablet or capsule per day, take them in divided doses. For example, take one an hour before breakfast and the other an hour before dinner.
10 mg/d of zinc on an empty stomach is sufficient to prevent or reverse a deficiency, but this should be doubled in an acute crisis of diarrhea or with chronic intestinal malabsorption.
If you eat a lot of zinc-rich foods and do not have any signs of zinc deficiency, you probably don't need a supplement. If you don't eat a lot of zinc-rich foods, or if most of your zinc-rich foods are plant foods, I recommend taking 15 mg/d as a preventative measure.
For chronic infection and inflammation, diabetes, alcoholism, and rare disorders that lead to zinc deficiency independent of diet, you may need larger doses, but I recommend working directly with a health care practitioner to carefully monitor zinc status and the efficacy of an individually tailored supplementation regime.
An acceptable zinc-to-copper ratio is somewhere between 2:1 and 15:1 in favor of zinc. On the background of a copper-rich diet, 15 mg/d of zinc probably doesn't matter. But at doses higher than this, I would supplement with copper at an approximately 10:1 ratio (give or take). At doses higher than 30 mg/d, I would strongly consider supplementing with a low-dose mixed trace mineral supplement, such as a single serving per day of ConcenTrace.
