3 ms·

Zinc's neurotoxic, which is why it permanently damages your sense of smell and also why people are hesitant to take it to cure the common cold.

by strken 7y ago

btrettel 7y ago
Interesting. The Zinc supplement that I started taking a couple times of week due to COVID-19 exceeds all upper limits listed on Wikipedia when taken at the recommended daily dose (50 mg). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc#Dietary_recommendations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc#Dietary_recommendations > In the case of zinc the adult UL is 40 mg/day (lower for children). > The EFSA reviewed the same safety question and set its UL at 25 mg/day, which is much lower than the U.S. value.
- orwin 7y ago
  Please be carefull with trace element as supplements, only take it if your doctor agree and don't self-medicate. When i was younger a kid in my school almost killed himself with iron poisoning (well, rather his parents almost killed him).
  - raverbashing 7y ago
    "Be careful" as "know which number is bigger than the other" You're right, people should know that 50mg is bigger than 40mg/25mg (at least for a safe prolonged daily limit - single dosage limit might be higher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_toxicity ). It's kindergarden level math and still it seems people have trouble with it. I'm not being ironic, it seems that's a common problem. Maybe explains why the situation got to the point it got.
scythe 7y ago
One problem with zinc is that dosing isn't standardized and people use it in stupid ways, cf. nasal sprays. High concentrations of heavy (-er than calcium) metal ions are of course neurotoxic; putting high concentrations of zinc in direct contact with olfactory tissue is to be avoided. Many supplements contain 50 mg of zinc or more, and worse, people take multiple pills. However, studies show similar effects using only 12.5 mg of zinc: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11073753?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11073753?dopt=Abstract Studies using much higher amounts of zinc do not show larger effects than this. The duration reduction in the above study was 28% while studies using 200 mg found a reduction of 35%: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2054270417694291 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20542704176942... Simply put, it does not make sense to multiply the dose by a factor of sixteen in order to improve effectiveness by 20%. Yet I don't know exactly what GP is talking about. There are loads of studies about zinc for the common cold and there are loads of pills on store shelves containing zinc and claiming to treat the common cold. At least here in the United States, that is. People don't take it because of the side effects and the stupid dose forms available (although the situation seems to be slowly improving).

Zinc's neurotoxic, which is why it permanently damages your sense of smell and also why people are hesitant to take it to cure the common cold.

by strken 7y ago

Zinc's neurotoxic, which is why it permanently damages your sense of smell and also why people are hesitant to take it to cure the common cold.

btrettel 7y ago

Interesting. The Zinc supplement that I started taking a couple times of week due to COVID-19 exceeds all upper limits listed on Wikipedia when taken at the recommended daily dose (50 mg). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc#Dietary_recommendations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc#Dietary_recommendations > In the case of zinc the adult UL is 40 mg/day (lower for children). > The EFSA reviewed the same safety question and set its UL at 25 mg/day, which is much lower than the U.S. value.

orwin 7y ago
Please be carefull with trace element as supplements, only take it if your doctor agree and don't self-medicate. When i was younger a kid in my school almost killed himself with iron poisoning (well, rather his parents almost killed him).
- raverbashing 7y ago
  "Be careful" as "know which number is bigger than the other" You're right, people should know that 50mg is bigger than 40mg/25mg (at least for a safe prolonged daily limit - single dosage limit might be higher https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_toxicity ). It's kindergarden level math and still it seems people have trouble with it. I'm not being ironic, it seems that's a common problem. Maybe explains why the situation got to the point it got.

scythe 7y ago

One problem with zinc is that dosing isn't standardized and people use it in stupid ways, cf. nasal sprays. High concentrations of heavy (-er than calcium) metal ions are of course neurotoxic; putting high concentrations of zinc in direct contact with olfactory tissue is to be avoided. Many supplements contain 50 mg of zinc or more, and worse, people take multiple pills. However, studies show similar effects using only 12.5 mg of zinc: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11073753?dopt=Abstract https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11073753?dopt=Abstract Studies using much higher amounts of zinc do not show larger effects than this. The duration reduction in the above study was 28% while studies using 200 mg found a reduction of 35%: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2054270417694291 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20542704176942... Simply put, it does not make sense to multiply the dose by a factor of sixteen in order to improve effectiveness by 20%. Yet I don't know exactly what GP is talking about. There are loads of studies about zinc for the common cold and there are loads of pills on store shelves containing zinc and claiming to treat the common cold. At least here in the United States, that is. People don't take it because of the side effects and the stupid dose forms available (although the situation seems to be slowly improving).