The sound of dry coughs and wet sneezes have started to creep up on all of us. Cold, Covid and flu season has officially arrived, and with it, lots of advice on supplements to protect you from the hordes.
But which ones are actually worth your time – and money? Zinc has popped up in many recent conversations about preventing illness. The problem is, however, that few supplements are actually proven to have a direct effect on cold viruses.
Perhaps best known for being paired with vitamin C in supplements (or aggressively whitening the noses of old-school bodyguards) zinc is an essential mineral that is fundamental for a wide range of bodily functions – including infection and immunity. As for whether it’ll protect you from catching something from snotty colleagues, let’s dig into the details.
Zinc affects everything from healing to our sense of taste and smell.
“Zinc helps with making new cells and enzymes, processing carbohydrate, fat and protein from food, supporting wound healing, and keeping our immune system working properly,” explains Emma Shafqat, paediatric dietitian.
It also supports healthy bone development, DNA production and fertility. She adds that “it also helps to maintain our senses of taste and smell,” and “the NHS highlights zinc’s role in growth and development, especially in children”.
Zinc supplements also have been used a huge number of medical treatments including several skin conditions (warts, eczema, psoriasis, alopecia and acne), diarrhoea (it helps restore the intestinal barrier), and in some research it has even been linked to reducing risk of age-related diseases, such as pneumonia.
Our bodies don’t make zinc – we need to consume it
It’s found in every cell and is second only to iron in abundance in the body. However, we cannot produce zinc ourselves, or store it in our bodies in large quantities. We have to ingest it regularly through food to keep our levels within a healthy range.
While zinc deficiency is a serious problem globally, with an estimated 17 per cent of the world’s population at risk, these rates are far lower in the UK. The latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey results show that only six per cent of men and seven per cent of women had an inadequate intake of zinc.
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 9.5mg a day for men (aged 19 to 64 years) and 7mg a day for women. If you don’t know what that looks like in practical terms, Shafqat explains that “most people in the UK are getting enough zinc”.
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Certain groups are more at risk, she adds: “teenagers, older adults, and people following vegan or vegetarian diets may be at higher risk of low intake”. Additionally, people who are breastfeeding; people with Crohn’s disease or other gastrointestinal diseases; people with chronic kidney disease; and people with alcohol use disorder.
Claims that zinc supplements can specifically cure a cold are not supported by medical evidence, but a systematic review in 2024 found that they may reduce the length of the common cold (if taken early enough). The issue here, though, is caveats around variations in type, dose and duration of treatment. This is far from conclusive.
While taking a supplement can be tempting, Shafqat cautions against using them unless you are specifically at risk and have been advised by a doctor to do so. Doctors will consider other risk factors, such as poor dietary intake and genetics, alongside blood results, when determining whether you need supplements.
“Supplements can be useful in certain situations, especially for children I work with who often have very restrictive diets, for people with health conditions that affect nutrient absorption, or when there’s a medically diagnosed deficiency,” she says. “But for most people, I always recommend focusing on getting zinc from food first.” This means that you will not only get the benefit of increased zinc but you will also get the other nutritional benefits from eating a varied diet.
If you do decide to take a zinc supplement, the NHS cautions against taking too high a dose, as it can cause stomach upset, nausea and a metallic taste in the mouth. Taken regularly, “high doses of zinc reduces the amount of copper the body can absorb. This can lead to anaemia and weakening of the bones”.
The food-first approach is easier than it seems
Both the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care say that “you should be able to get all the zinc you need by eating a varied and balanced diet”.
Shafqat says: “Zinc is found in a wide variety of foods. Meat, shellfish, and dairy are the richest and most easily absorbed sources. Plant-based foods like beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and wholegrains also contain zinc, though the body absorbs it less efficiently from plants.
“People on vegan or vegetarian diets should include a variety of these foods every day. To increase zinc absorption, eat fermented soya such as tempeh and miso, soak dried beans then rinse before cooking, and sprout grains and seeds.”
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