“Zinc?”Here!
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As a supplement
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
Roll Call does not check drug interactions or assess personal safety.
An essential mineral involved in immune function, wound healing, and many of the body’s enzymes.
Why it’s used
Taken to add to dietary zinc, and sometimes to shorten a cold.
What the evidence is for
correcting zinc deficiency.
What the evidence says
Supplementation corrects zinc deficiency, which is clearest where dietary intake is low. For the common cold, a 2024 Cochrane review found zinc may shorten symptoms by about two days once a cold has started, with mixed effects on severity — a weaker, less settled claim than deficiency correction.
Dose studied
8–40 mg — adult RDA (8–11 mg/day) up to the tolerable upper intake level (40 mg/day), per NIH ODS.
Context
The adult RDA is 8 mg (women) to 11 mg (men); the tolerable upper intake level is 40 mg/day. Sustained high doses can interfere with copper absorption.
Rumors
Correcting zinc deficiency, which slows growth in children and causes hair loss, diarrhea and frequent infections, dulls taste and smell, and delays wound healing in older adults.
Not gradedhealth and safety evidence
Sources cited — no verdict reached.
Studied in: people at risk of zinc deficiency (e.g., IBD, celiac disease, sickle cell disease, alcohol use disorder, vegetarian/vegan diets).
Measured as an outcome.
- Office of Dietary Supplements - Zinc (Regulatory) · Funding not checked
How much is a reference amount
- 8 mg a dayfor adults 19 and over, women · Recommended Dietary Allowance
Upper limit 40 mg a day, from food and supplements together.
- 11 mg a dayfor adults 19 and over, men · Recommended Dietary Allowance
Upper limit 40 mg a day, from food and supplements together.
Every applicable line is shown because we don’t know which one is yours, and a reference intake is a target for a population, not a threshold for harm.