Vitamin Supplements

Toxicity

Zinc does not generally cause toxic symptoms, except in very large amounts—such as 2 g or more taken at one time, or less (but still a lot) taken regularly over several weeks. By taking as little as two times the RDA of zinc over a period of months, for example, you can interfere with the status of copper in your body.

If you do have too much zinc in your body, you could experience vomiting and diarrhea, and have a decreased HDL (”good”) cholesterol level. More serious problems include anemia and an impaired immune function. Very high zinc intake-10 to 30 times the RDA for prolonged periods—can interfere with your immune system (as can levels that are too low). Read the rest of this entry »

Except for iron, no other trace mineral is as prevalent in the body as zinc. And few have been as highly promoted. You may have heard a lot of claims about zinc, in fact; many myths have flourished around this mineral. Zinc has been touted as a treatment for angina, acne, liver disease, and lack of energy— despite scarce evidence to support any of these claims. Some proponents have even insisted that zinc stimulates sexual potency.

Setting aside the spurious claims, zinc is an essential nutrient that plays important roles in the body. It is present in all of the body’s cells, with large amounts in the eyes, liver, bone, skin, hair, and nails. Read the rest of this entry »