Zinc is able to inhibit coronavirus replication and may have some therapeutic benefit if administered early in the infection.[i] Zinc may also be efficacious as adjuvant therapy to chloroquine-based drugs which help increase intracellular zinc where zinc, in turn, drug efficacy. However, long-term high-dose zinc is not recommended due to potential side effects including copper deficiency, anemia, reduction of HDL, and potential genitourinary consequences.[ii]
A 2000 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial involving 48 subjects evaluated the effect of ~80 mg of elemental zinc on cold symptom duration. A dose of 12.8 mg of elemental zinc in the form of zinc acetate lozenges was taken every 2-3 hours while awake for 4-5 days. The supplemented group experienced significantly fewer days with symptoms, with an average duration of 4.5 days versus 8.1 days in the unsupplemented group.[iii]
Pay close attention to zinc competency when evaluating risk or severity of COVID-19.
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[i] McCullough, Peter A et al. “Pathophysiological Basis and Rationale for Early Outpatient Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection.” The American journal of medicine vol. 134,1 (2021): 16-22. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.07.003
[ii] Rahman, Mohammad Tariqur, and Syed Zahir Idid. “Can Zn Be a Critical Element in COVID-19 Treatment?.” Biological trace element research vol. 199,2 (2021): 550-558. doi:10.1007/s12011-020-02194-9
[iii] Prasad, A S et al. “Duration of symptoms and plasma cytokine levels in patients with the common cold treated with zinc acetate. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.” Annals of internal medicine vol. 133,4 (2000): 245-52. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-133-4-200008150-00006