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I believe I may be zinc deficient. I just took a zinc tally taste test, and it tasted like water. I have a long history of skin issues (bad acne, and seborrheic dermatitis) and gut issues, likely small bowl dysbiosis and leaky gut. I also have the white spots on my fingernails that Chris Kresser mentioned are a symptom of zinc/copper imbalance, and our house has copper pipes (we do run the water 3 minutes before drinking though).

I've been taking 50mg/day of chelated zinc (as Zinc Gluconate) for the past 10 days, still no taste on the zinc tally test.

I'm thinking of upping the doseage to see what happens, but I want to take a measured approach because Paul Jaminet suggests on p223 of the Perfect Health Diet that dosage above 40mg/day (= regular multivitamin + PHD dietary intake) is risky.

What is a reasonable dose of zinc?

Are there any things I should look out for, and stop supplementation if they occur?

Thanks

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The white finger nail spots are a zinc/copper imbalance... hrm. I need to look into that more, I always seem to get them and I've always wondered why. – Ryan H Jan 24 2012 at 5:06
I don't recall Chris Kresser saying the white spots were a definite sign of zinc/copper imbalance, if I recall, it was more like "this might be a sign of imbalance." – Arrowsican Jan 24 2012 at 14:37

1 Answer

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You have to be careful not to create or exacerbate a copper deficiency as a result of supplementation. Simply having a zinc deficiency doesn't mean that you can't also be deficient in copper. If you're going to supplement, I'd recommend about 15mg of a zinc chelate every other day and 2mg of copper on the off days for a few weeks. You could also eat oysters, which at least have a little bit of copper.

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I do eat beef liver and other organ meats occasionally as a way to get copper as per PHD, perhaps I should up the frequency or add in oysters while supplementing with zinc. – Arrowsican Jan 24 2012 at 14:35
I think it'd be better to add in oysters every day and then taper down to a few times a week and then once a week. If I were to do it again, that's what I would do. I was eating 1-200g a week of liver and copper still became unbalanced and led to arrhythmias (to which I have been subject in the past). – Travis Culp♦ Jan 24 2012 at 16:08
I'll have to see if I can find a good source of oysters. Were you suggesting the copper and zinc on different days so they didn't interfere with each other's absorbtion? I should probably just bite the bullet and get a serum test, to really see where things stand. – Arrowsican Jan 24 2012 at 22:54
Serum levels of minerals are misleading and very poorly reflect the body's mineral pools. Most minerals compete for absorption, but copper and zinc compete closely with each other. Zinc supplementation also increases copper excretion, so you'll probably need to supp cu whatever route you take. – Travis Culp♦ Jan 25 2012 at 1:11
What is a reliable way to gauge the body's mineral pools? – Arrowsican Jan 25 2012 at 3:26

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