A word about zinc:
The common saying, “too much of a good thing,” does have a place in nutrition. The body prefers a happy medium, and too little and too much of many essential vitamins and minerals can lead to antagonist deficiency and/or imbalances.
One of the minerals that is ‘in the news’ in this time of Covid-19 is zinc, and many of my patients have added it to their nutritional regime for its importance in strengthening immune functions.
BUT: Copper and zinc work against one another for binding sites, and EXCESS zinc can lead to a copper deficiency [and, vice versa].
We recognize that even a mild zinc deficiency contributes to a number of health problems, including susceptibility to life-threatening infections. Some of the causes of zinc deficiency are thought to be poor absorption [due to age, bowel disease or a mineral poor diet], inflammation, stress, hormone imbalance and copper toxicity. There is no sensitive or specific test or even physical indicator of a zinc deficiency, so it’s hard to say when this issue is present. A poor sense of taste is an indicator, but most people with this problem are unaware that food could have more taste.
One way to test yourself is with a liquid solution with zinc [we use Zinc Tally by Metagenics]. If you can taste it [it does NOT taste good] then you have enough zinc in your system. If there is little or no taste to the liquid, then you need zinc.
If you do need zinc, we carry several products that will help you get more zinc IN BALANCE with other micronutrients, so you don’t inadvertently create another problem while trying to solve this one.