What it is
Regulatory status: essential nutrient and dietary supplement ingredient
Mechanism evidence: human
At a glance
What it is, why people use it, the evidence, and what to know before trying it.
Why people use it
- Correct zinc deficiency
- Immune support
- Hormone support
Evidence at a glance
Zinc is essential and deficiency correction is beneficial. Routine 100 mg/day use is well above the adult upper limit and is not a benign general-wellness dose because chronic excess can induce copper deficiency and other harm.
Confidence: strong
Safety & interactions
Known side effects, interactions and use limits from reviewed sources.
The US adult tolerable upper intake level is 40 mg/day. Repeated high intake can cause nausea and copper deficiency, lower HDL cholesterol and impair immunity. A reported 100 mg daily dose exceeds that upper limit and warrants clinician review.
- Long-term high-dose use without copper and blood-count monitoring
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Abdominal cramps
- Copper deficiency with chronic high intake
- Quinolone and tetracycline antibiotics
- Penicillamine
- Iron supplements taken together
Forms and variants
This review does not automatically apply to:
- intranasal zinc
- zinc-containing multivitamins with unreported amounts