Zinc Citrate
(Zn Citrate)
Evidence: Very High
Potential Benefits: High
Safety: Very High
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What is zinc citrate?
Zinc citrate is a popular supplemental form of zinc, an essential mineral necessary for hundreds of functions in the body related to hormonal health, immune system function, brain health, and more. Zinc citrate supplements are most helpful if you are deficient in this nutrient. Of all types of zinc supplements, zinc citrate absorbs the best and is also very cheap. If you already get enough from food, you should not need to take it as a supplement. However, it can still improve some aspects of your health beyond the baseline. This article is about the main benefits of zinc citrate as a supplement, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.
What does zinc citrate do?
Just like magnesium, zinc obtained from zinc citrate has hundreds of functions in the body.
This mineral is crucial for growth and development in childhood. Particularly, it is necessary for sexual development and to go through puberty successfully.
Zinc is needed for the production of nitric oxide and all proteins. It activates enzymes involved in digestion, thyroid hormone production, and immune system functions.
It allows vitamins A and D, thyroid hormone, stress hormones, and sex hormones to carry out their functions. For example, this mineral is needed to carry vitamin A in the blood, activate it, and use it for vision and cellular communication.
Zinc also protects against infections, oxidative stress, heavy metal toxicity, psychological and emotional stress, and blood sugar problems.
The nutrient also protects the body from lead, mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals to some extent.
Potential benefits
It is important to note that all of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. Generally, the higher the dose, the more pronounced the effects are. However, they do reach a plateau at a certain point. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.
Many possible benefits fall under the umbrella of ‘correcting a deficiency’ and are therefore not mentioned in the article. If you are deficient, zinc citrate supplements can affect your cognition, performance, and overall health in a remarkably positive way.
Major benefits
Minor benefits
Possible side effects
These side effects are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.
Who should not take zinc citrate?
You should probably avoid taking the supplement if you:
Who will benefit the most?
You should consider taking the supplement if you:
Symptoms of zinc deficiency
Zinc deficiency is one of the most common health problems in the world. In developed countries, about 1-13% of people are at risk of deficiency. In Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean regions, as much as 68-95% are deficient.
The most common signs of deficiency include:
Keep in mind that these signs are just indications of a deficiency. If you experience some or even most of them, it does not necessarily mean you need more zinc. On the other hand, some people may be deficient even though they are completely asymptomatic.
With that said, if you experience many or most of these symptoms, there is a high chance that you are not getting enough zinc. The more of these symptoms you have and the more severe they are, the more likely you are to have a deficiency.
Types of zinc supplements
The different types of zinc supplements include:
Other than zinc oxide and picolinate, all forms are safe, reliable, and easy to absorb. Of all types of zinc supplements, zinc citrate absorbs the best and is also very cheap.
How much zinc citrate should you take?
The RDA (recommended daily allowance) for this nutrient is 11 mg/d for adult men and 8 mg/d for women. These amounts should be enough for most people to avoid symptoms of deficiency. The RDA for pregnant and lactating women is 11 mg/d and 12 mg/d, respectively.
For most people, 10-15 mg appears to be the best daily target. This amount should provide most of the benefits without meaningful side effects.
Beware that some things increase your need for zinc. For example, each male ejaculation depletes zinc stores by about 3 mg, and putting o lean muscle mass costs about 9 mg per pound of lean muscle (or about 20 mg per kilogram).
Another thing worth considering is phytic acid, a plant compound that decreases the absorption of zinc by about 50%. Therefore, if you only get this mineral from plants, you will need 16.5 mg/d as a man as opposed to 11 mg/d. If you are a woman, you should try to get 12 mg/d instead of 8 mg/d.
In some cases, zinc from foods high in phytates gets absorbed bout 10 times worse than zinc in animal foods. However, the RDA at least partially accounts for this.
Sprouting, fermenting, and soaking all decrease the phytic acid content in food and therefore improve the absorption of Zn. Sour acids in fermented foods and citrus fruits also enhance zinc absorption.
What you also want to keep an eye on is the copper:zinc ratio. These two nutrients have to be kept in balance and the sweet spot is somewhere between 1:2 and 1:15. What generally throws this ratio off is getting too much copper from supplements or certain types of liver. On the other hand, zinc citrate supplements with 50+ mg could certainly deplete you of copper.
If you take any dose of copper or a high dose of zinc citrate, consider supplementing with the other mineral as well.
The upper safety limit for zinc is 40 mg/d. Higher amounts may cause problems such as the imbalance between copper and zinc if you take zinc citrate for a prolonged period. Taking more than 20 mg daily should not be necessary and is not recommended unless you have a great reason to do so.
Food sources of zinc
What matters more than how much Zn you consume is how much you absorb. Zinc from nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains is about 50% harder to absorb because of phytic acid.
The richest food sources include oysters, red meat, organ meats, and wheat germ. These provide enough zinc in 100-200 grams.
Other types of meat, cheese, and most grains, nuts, and legumes generally provide enough in 200-500 grams.
While fruits and fermented foods generally don’t contain much zinc, they significantly increase the absorption of this mineral. Eating these along with zinc-rich foods can improve your zinc status, especially if you are on a vegan diet.
Another thing that can improve the absorption of zinc in plant foods is soaking, sprouting, or fermenting foods that contain a high amount of phytic acid. Doing so decreases the phytic acid content and thus makes the zinc more bioavailable.
The easiest way to find out how much zinc you are getting in your diet is with Cronometer.com. This free app allows you to track all vitamins, minerals, and more.
Best time to take zinc citrate
Zinc from zinc citrate is water-soluble, which means you don’t have to take it with food to absorb it well. Taking the supplement on an empty stomach may be better as taking this mineral too close to when you eat food may worsen its absorption because of phytic acid and other antinutrients in food.
Taking the supplement with food is better if it causes stomach upset when you take it on an empty stomach.
The most important thing to take into consideration is that we can only absorb so much zinc at once. If you wish to take a high dose of the mineral (30 mg or more), you want to separate it into two or more smaller doses and take them about 5 hours apart.
Whether you take the supplement in the morning or the evening doesn’t matter. It does not interrupt your sleep in any way.
Interactions with other supplements
Where to buy zinc citrate
Amazon seems to be the best option for ordering zinc citrate supplements in most countries. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the internet.
Beware some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.
FAQ
References
Most of the information provided in this guide is supported by scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything said in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.
We hope this guide has helped you determine if you should add zinc citrate to your stack and how to do it right.
If you have any further questions or want to share your feedback, feel free to email us!
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