I've taken supplemental zinc for several years. After looking at the available evidence, I've decided to stop. If you're eating a good diet, you're likely getting as much zinc as your body can benefit from. (If you are elderly or have a digestive disorder, then it may be worth having your serum zinc levels measured to find out whether that's the case.)
My primary motivation for taking zinc was Acne. There have been no good studies on the subject, but there are lots of anecdotes of people seeing their skin improve with zinc supplementation. Certainly, zinc is essential to the skin. Wounds heal more slowly in individuals with zinc deficiency, for example. But that doesn't mean that extra zinc "boosts" skin health, and indeed I noticed no change. My best guess is that the anecdotal evidence comes from people who aren't on a nutrient-rich diet.
My other motivation for taking zinc was its supposed immune-boosting powers. The Cochrane Review, the gold standard of medical meta-analysis, made headlines in 2011 and 2013 with their report that people could reduce the duration of colds by taking zinc. However, that review was withdrawn in 2015 due to concerns about the data and methodology. Perhaps the link is true, butâ€"cruciallyâ€"the studies involved were done with zinc lozenges, which deposit zinc directly in the respiratory tract, where it combats the virus (the theory goes) directly. There's no reason to think that supplemental zinc has the same benefit. My own experience is consistent with the null hypothesis: I've gotten colds just as often in my years taking zinc as I did in my years when I didn't.
Some people take zinc for eye health, since it was used as part of the famous AREDS formulation. However, it's important to remember that AREDS only found a benefit for people who already had age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Those taking the supplement were somewhat less likely to progress from intermediate AMD to advanced AMD. If you have AMD, talk to your doctor about taking an AREDS-based supplement, but also remember that everything in it is easily obtained from a nutritious diet (albeit at more modest levels).
Many staple foods are rich in zinc: meat, fish, dairy, whole grains, nuts and legumes. So as long as you're avoiding empty calories, you should have no trouble getting all the zinc your body needs
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