“Zinc Up” For This Winter
-How Zinc Supplementation Helps Battling The Common Cold
Winter is coming. That means your kids and family might have a little more episodes of coughing, sneezing, congestion or fevers. The common trace element ZINC could be the natural answer as a recent meta-analysis demonstrated that zinc supplementation can reduce the duration and severity of a cold, if it’s started early on1.
Since 1984, scientists have been designing clinical trials in the hope to investigate the efficacy of Zinc in common cold management. The majority of studies have revealed zinc’s ability to relieve cold symptoms as well as shorten cold duration. For instance, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study carried out in Cleveland Clinic recruited 100 adults who developed symptoms of the common cold within 24 hours2. Half of the subjects received zinc lozenges, while the other half received similar lozenges without zinc. The zinc group had significantly fewer days with coughing, headache, nasal congestion and sore throat. In another Iranian study in children 1-7 years with the common cold, the treatment group (zinc) showed a significant decrease in the mean duration of rhinorrhea, cough, nasal obstruction, sneezing and fever3. Both studies showed a beneficial effect of using zinc for treating the common cold, particularly when zinc is started within the first 24 hours of the onset of symptoms.
Aside from symptom relief, how to prevent kids from getting cold is also a universal concern for parents. One prevention trial in 2009 addressed the effect of zinc supplementation in school-aged children over five fall/winter months4. Supplemented with 10mg daily zinc, the study group reported merely 1.73 episodes of common cold per child in comparison to 3.15 cold episodes per child among the placebo group. The study group also had 60% fewer missing days from school. Zinc supplementation substantially reduced the incidence of antibiotic uses for bacterial infections.
Overall, taking zinc supplements can boost immune functions as well as relieve the common cold (but need to be started soon after the onset of symptoms). If you are looking for a potent while delicious zinc product for the entire family, try our ZINC GUMMIES which offers 10mg of Zinc (from Zinc Citrate with a great absorption rate). It has absolutely no typical zinc bad taste and does not cause adverse effects like nausea.
References:
1. Singh M, Das RR. Zinc for the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011; (2): CD001364.
2. Mossad SB, MackninM, MedendorpS. Zinc gluconate lozenges for treating the common cold. Annals of Internal Medicine 1996;125(2):81-8.
3. Parsa Yousefichaijan, Fatemeh Dorreh, Mahdyieh Naziri. The Effect of Zinc Sulfate on Duration of Common Cold Symptoms in Children. J. Biol. Today’s World. 2017 Oct; 6 (10): 186-190.
4. Vakili R, Vahedian M, Khodaei GH, Mahmoudi M. Effects of zinc supplementation in occurrence and duration of common cold in school aged children during cold season: a double blind placebo-controlled trial. Iranian Journal of Pediatrics 2009;19(4):376-80.