Use Zinc Lozenges!
Shorten the duration of your next cold, suck on zinc lozenges
Related to my last post on being sick and how my metrics prepped me to know I might be coming down with something. I came across a pretty interesting Cochrane-backed NIH study on zinc and colds recently (the kind that actually pulls together a lot of randomized trials) shared with me by a Stanford PHD friend (Thanks Paul)!
Thought I’d share to help others!
Tl;dr Suck on Zinc Lozenges to shorten the duration of your cold!
🧪 Zinc helps with shortening your cold, not preventing
❌ Prevention? The science is weak and inconsistent. Zinc didn’t consistently reduce how often people got colds.
✅ Duration? Yep. It can reduce your cold by 1–2 days if taken within 24 hours of symptoms starting.
But not just any zinc.
🍬 Format Matters: It’s All About the Lozenge
The research that showed benefit used zinc lozenges, not pills. Why?
Lozenges allow zinc to work locally in the throat and upper airway, which is exactly where cold viruses like rhinovirus tend to live and multiply.
Just popping a zinc pill and swallowing it probably won’t help.
So yes, if you’re trying to treat a cold, zinc needs to be in lozenge form.
📏 How Much Zinc Should You Take?
For cold symptom relief
Use zinc acetate or zinc gluconate lozenges
Aim for ~75 mg elemental zinc per day, split into:
~13–15 mg per lozenge
One lozenge every 2–3 hours while awake
Start within 24 hours of symptoms
Continue for 5–7 days, or until symptoms resolve
⚠️ Don’t exceed 100 mg/day - high doses over time can deplete copper and cause side effects. Also, avoid zinc nasal sprays. There are reports of permanent loss of smell.
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And yes, I know, there was no “tech” in this post, but hope it’s still helpful! :)
