Taking zinc lozenges not exceeding 100 mg of elemental zinc per day may make recovery from common cold faster, suggests new research. The dose of zinc may help common cold patients within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms. Analysing three randomised controlled trials, the researchers found that zinc acetate lozenges may increase the rate of recovery from common cold three-fold. On the 5 th day, 70 percent of the zinc lozenge patients had recovered compared with 27 percent of the placebo patients, showed the study published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Disease.
The dose of zinc in the 3 studies was between 80 to 92 mg/day. Such doses are substantially higher than the recommended daily zinc intake in the US, which is 11 mg/day for men and 8 mg/day for women. However, in certain other controlled studies, unrelated to the common cold, zinc has been administered in doses of 100 to…
