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I've felt extremely "down" physically for a long time, culminating recently. Therefore, after hearing and reading that zinc allegedly fixes most of my specific issues, I have bought this bottle of "organic zinc pills".

(I do not know what exactly makes them "organic", but that's what it says.)

They contain 25 mg zinc each. That is claimed to be 250% DRI, which is already 1.5x "too much" if you are to believe in the "Daily Recommended Intake" system.

The bottle says that it's "not recommended" to take more than 1 pill per day.

However, A person on the radio suggested 80 mg of zinc per day, and another one commented that while not too good for the liver, it was fully possible to take 250 mg of zinc per day...

If 80 mg is okay, that already means more than three (3) pills from my bottle per day, which is thrice the dosage and over 750% of the RDI of zinc...

None of this adds up to me. I can't tell if I'm taking way too little zinc or not by following the "1 pill of 25 mg zinc per day" instructions, but I'm scared to start taking two or more pills a day due to the warning that it's "not recommended". Why is it not recommended if one pill only contains 25 mg? And why is that 250% of the daily recommended intake?

I have to admit that I already (after just a couple of days) feel significantly less "down", but of course, it could be a temporary coincidence.

(Please don't tell me to "ask my doctor". I have no doctor and I don't want anything to do with them after I was treated very rudely the last time I visited their office. But that's a long, irrelevant story.)

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    "A person on the radio suggested 80 mg of zinc per day, and another one commented that while not too good for the liver, it was fully possible to take 250 mg of zinc per day..." why would you trust on a person on the radio that one God knows who he/she was? You might wanna base on claims said by experts on the field, aka doctors.
    – I likeThatMeow
    Commented Apr 2, 2020 at 1:12
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    Having one rude experience at a doctor's office is a terrible reason to outsource your medical advice to random schmucks on the radio.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Apr 3, 2020 at 3:26
  • Juriel, regarding the -rude experience with the doctor-, keep in mind that there are bad people out there, that doesn't mean that all of them will be like that. There are also a lot of good people out there, with a kind heart; so try to see the good side on it too:)
    – I likeThatMeow
    Commented Apr 3, 2020 at 19:00

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The European Food Safety Authority lists a population reference intake of 9.5 mg/day for men and 7.0 mg/day for women. The same source lists a tolerable upper intake limit ("UL", a level that should be safe in the long term for everyone) of 25 mg/day for adults. Long-term intake of 50 mg/day has been shown to be enough to cause problems.

One of those tablets of yours per day, in addition to the zinc content of your food, is enough to put you into the uncertain region between the UL and the known-problematic dose.

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  • What is the meaning UL?
    – I likeThatMeow
    Commented Apr 3, 2020 at 1:50
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    @America, I've added an expansion of the abbreviation.
    – Mark
    Commented Apr 3, 2020 at 2:02

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