In 1771, the German physician Hieronymus David Gaubius introduced the western scientific community to "a medication with many promises" – zinc.
More than 200 years later, we can find it amongst the many supplements on pharmacy shelves. It's even known to be one of the rare things that might help fight off a common cold.
Evidence for zinc supplement use is limited, study results have been mixed, and dosage, formulation and length of prescription have not been investigated properly to date.
A new meta-analysis of 28 randomized controlled trials has now strengthened the notion that supplementing zinc could prevent symptoms and shorten the duration of viral respiratory infections, like the common cold or the flu.
"It is commonly thought that zinc's role in preventing and treating infections is only for people who are zinc deficient; our findings really challenge this notion," says integrative medicine doctor Jennifer Hunter from Western Sydney University in Australia.
"The two large trials from China found very low dose zinc nasal spray reduced the risk of clinical illness. The two smaller trials in the US that evaluated the preventive effects of oral zinc excluded people who were zinc deficient.
"All the other trials that evaluated zinc for treating the common cold were in populations where zinc deficiency is very unlikely."
When zinc was taken as a preventative measure, the analysis found there was a 28 percent lower risk of developing milder symptoms, and an 87 percent lower risk of developing moderately severe symptoms. READ MORE...
