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Zinc
An essential trace mineral with eighteen authorised EU health claims and a ceiling not far above the dose: the NRV is 10 mg a day and the EFSA upper limit is 25 mg, food included. It sits in ten of our formulas, and taken at high doses for weeks it pulls your copper down with it, so the engine counts zinc across your whole plan and watches the copper that goes with it.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
Eighteen claims. All of them authorised.
These are the wordings on the EU register for zinc, and we do not paraphrase them into something that sounds stronger. All eighteen carry the same condition: the product has to be at least a source of zinc under Regulation (EC) 1924/2006. Our formulas serve 5 to 15 mg, which is 50% to 150% of the NRV.These are the wordings on the EU register for zinc, and we do not paraphrase them. All eighteen need the product to be at least a source of zinc. Our formulas serve 50% to 150% of the NRV.
None of the eighteen is a claim about colds, the thyroid, inflammation or muscle recovery, even though zinc sits in formulas named after all four. In those formulas it carries the immune or protein synthesis claims, and the wording goes no further. The cold research we cite used zinc lozenges at around 75 mg in the first 24 hours, three times the upper limit. Our boosts serve 15 mg in a liquid, and we do not borrow that result.
WHY BISGLYCINATE
The claims do not change. The tolerance does.
The eighteen claims attach to zinc, not to a particular salt, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Our file names bisglycinate as the form of choice for liquid doses, for how well it is absorbed and tolerated, and our form file marks it as stable in liquid, soluble in water and neutral in taste.
Our notes record oxide at under 50% bioavailability, needing stomach acid to dissolve and poorly tolerated in liquids, and sulfate as irritating to the stomach. Both are ruled out.
Citrate is inexpensive, dissolves well in liquids, and our notes put it at about 61% absorbed. Gluconate is well tolerated, absorbed about as well as citrate, and the classic in cold lozenges. Both are on file as alternatives, not as what we chose.
Zinc chelated to glycine. Our notes record high bioavailability and better stomach tolerance, which is why our file picks it for liquid doses. Picolinate, also well absorbed in our notes, is on file as an alternative.
Better absorption and tolerance are what our notes record, not authorised claims, so you will not read them on a label. There are two open points we would rather write down: only one of our ten formulas records the form of zinc in its composition so far, and whether the batch we buy is listed under Regulation (EC) 1170/2009 is still to be confirmed.Better absorption and tolerance are not authorised claims. And only one of our ten formulas records the form of zinc so far.
WHERE IT APPEARS
Ten of the twenty-nine carry zinc.
Three CORE formulas, two BOOST and five blood-test formulas, three of which are still in development. Doses run from 5 to 15 mg: six are served in the morning, two at night and the two boosts across both. Any two of the four 15 mg formulas together would already pass the ceiling, which is why zinc is counted across your plan, not formula by formula.
THE CEILING
25 mg a day, food included.
EFSA's upper limit for zinc is 25 mg a day for adults, counting food and supplements together, and it is stricter than the US limit of 40 mg. The engine adds up zinc across every formula in your plan and blocks one that would take the total to 25 mg before it is recommended. It is the kind of check a shelf of separate bottles cannot make for you.EFSA's limit is 25 mg a day, food and supplements together. The engine adds up zinc across your formulas and blocks one that would take you to it.
Four of our formulas carry 15 mg, and any two of them together would pass the EFSA limit, so the engine never lets them run side by side. Germany's BfR suggests 6.5 mg a day for a supplement, and all our doses but the 5 mg one are above it; France's ANSES works to 25 mg, diet included. Spain's AESAN asks supplements with 15 mg a day or more to warn about excess.
Zinc makes your gut produce a protein that traps copper, so over weeks it can leave you short of copper. Our rule: when zinc reaches 15 mg a day long term, the plan adds at least 1 mg of copper, keeping zinc at no more than 15 times the copper, or the formula is held back. Low testosterone carries 1.5 mg of copper for that reason. The two boosts carry 15 mg and no copper: the rule covers long-term intake, and the boosts are capped at 10 and 7 days. Autoimmune thyroid carries 15 mg for 180 days with no copper, and the formula is still in development. EFSA sets no number for this ratio: it is our own design choice.
Do not take zinc long term at 40 mg a day or more without copper alongside it: the risk of copper deficiency is documented. At 50 mg a day or more for four to six weeks, it has caused anaemia that does not respond to iron, low white blood cells and damage to the spinal cord and nerves, with walking and balance problems and loss of vision, and recovery is only partial: in our file, 24% improved and 5% returned to where they were. Avoid it if you have already lost your sense of smell or use nasal products with zinc: intranasal zinc has caused permanent loss of smell, and the FDA withdrew one such product in 2009. With haemochromatosis, ask first, because zinc alters your iron balance. It is contraindicated in Menkes disease, a congenital copper deficiency. If you are in cancer treatment, ask your oncologist before combining it; with cisplatin, your blood zinc should be monitored. With Wilson's disease, zinc is a medical treatment at far higher doses, and that belongs to your doctor. In pregnancy and breastfeeding it is safe at recommended intakes (11–13 mg a day); avoid high doses above 40 mg without a medical indication. Four of the formulas that carry it are ruled out in pregnancy (Functional thyroid, Autoimmune thyroid, Low testosterone and Cold symptom support), and Low testosterone is also ruled out while breastfeeding. Under 18, the US limits run from 4 to 34 mg a day by age, and accidental overdose, from lozenges for example, is a risk. Taken at high doses over time it can lower HDL cholesterol and, paradoxically, disturb the immune response. Soluble salts above 50 mg can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, a metallic taste and diarrhoea. Nine of the ten formulas that carry it are not given with vitamin K antagonist anticoagulants such as warfarin. Our zinc file lists no direct interaction with anticoagulation, but one of our formula files, Muscle damage (CK), does count zinc among the reasons it is not given with anticoagulants. The zinc file lists no specific contraindication for liver or kidney disease, heart disease or psychiatric medication, and zinc contains none of the fourteen allergens that must be declared in the EU. The formulas that carry it add their own exclusions: six are not given with liver disease; three not with autoimmune disease or immunosuppression, and Digestion & microbiome not with SIBO or severe immunosuppression; two not with any anticoagulant; the two thyroid formulas not with an overactive thyroid, and Functional thyroid not while thyroid nodules are being investigated; Acute immunity not with severe atopy; and Low testosterone is not given to women or under-18s, or with prostate cancer, heart disease, sedatives, thyroid disorders or excess androgens. Each formula page lists them in full.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches.
Zinc is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented 9 of them, out of the 443 pairs on file: five can share a dose and four need spacing. Our notes also describe copper, iron, calcium, magnesium and manganese competing with it for absorption, and strong coffee or tea binding it, but those are not documented as pairs yet; copper is handled by an engine rule instead.
Vitamin C, vitamin D3 and selenium work alongside zinc in the immune system, and the cold formula already carries vitamin C and D3 with it. Our file clears zinc with selenium up to 15 mg of zinc and 100 µg of selenium; Autoimmune thyroid carries 200 µg of selenium, above that, and is still in development. Vitamin B6 can share a blend as long as your B6 stays at 12 mg a day or less, and inactivated probiotics are allowed next to it.
White clay binds zinc, and konjac glucomannan and psyllium husk trap it in their gel, so all three are kept at least 2 hours away. Folate above 800 µg a day may slightly reduce how much zinc you absorb: at everyday doses it does not matter, but with a known zinc deficiency and a high-dose folate course before pregnancy, the two are kept 2 hours apart. That pair is still flagged for review.
None of these is in our medication matrix yet; they come from our ingredient file. Zinc reduces the absorption of quinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, rated major: take them 2 hours before or 4 to 6 hours after the zinc. Keep it at least 2 hours from tetracyclines such as doxycycline. Our file gives shorter minimums for penicillamine (1 hour) and bisphosphonates (30 minutes), but its timing rules keep both 2 hours away. Thiazide diuretics and cisplatin make you lose more zinc in your urine, and ACE inhibitors do so to a lesser degree. Our file also lists immunosuppressants, to be reviewed case by case, the contraceptive pill, which can lower blood zinc slightly, and antacids, which slightly reduce its absorption. If you take any of them, ask your doctor before starting.
443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026Read the introduction to Zinc →
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
Every one of them has a page like this.
What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.