i bought a bottle of zinc at CVS but each pill is 50mg. would that be too much to take per day?

I take 1 a day, and it's the same size.


Tim

I have been taking the 50mg pills and splitting them in 2. Taking one a day and two on days I go for my vocal lessons. I was afraid of taking to much as well but I don't know cuz on my vocal lesson days my voice is stronger than any other day. But I don't really thats just what i do. Skullsplitter probably has been taking that type of dosage for quite a while so it's probably ok. Than again he might have a larger build to him so he is able to have more zinc. Mr. JV is probably a better judge of this.

I take 2-3 zinc lozenges a day (rarely 3, only on recording or performing days) And each has 23mg.

If you have a pill cutter, maybe take half a pill every 12 hours or so. I've heard taking the full thing all at once causes nausea.

Go to vitacost.com, check out the Ionic Zinc by Liguimins. it is a 2 ounce bottle I believe and it costs a little more than 5 bucks. You cannot overdo ionic zinc. So go with it and youll be okay. If not, Ibelieve it's about 23 mg a day but the 50 mg as was suggested above shpuld be fine in moderation.

thx everyone! i was just worried that i might over doze it by taking 50mg a day. it helps a lot actually!

Lets not go about taking obscene amounts of supplements. There is only so much the body can use. Whilst zinc toxicity is pretty uncommon, it is possible. It is also worth noting that zinc is thought to compete with copper in the digestive tract for absoption so be careful taking high levels of zinc over a prolonged period as you may be risking copper deficency. A well balanced diet will give you all the nutrients you need (although getting a balanced diet is admittidly hard).
Btw the RDA for zinc is between 8 an 13mg for the normal healthy person (depending on where you look for the information) so taking 50mg could be considered a little excessive, particularly if taking over the long term.

I have been taking zinc for a while now. More often than not it makes me feel like I want to hurl after 10 minutes or so. Then I get over it in a couple minutes after that and I go about my day... Am I taking too much? Or is my body just rejecting it?

I'd say that if you feel ill, you're taking too much.

When I take cold eze when I feel like a cold is going to come on, I feel sick. They only have 13 mg's of zinc. I dont know if its the gross flavor of them or the amount of zinc. But I always get a nausea feeling.

Nick,

Are you taking it with food? You're supposed to take it with a meal.


Tim

Ya know, not always Skull now that I think about it. I'll try that see if it works.

with a meal??? i dont. i mean i didnt know that. well if 50mg is too much, then why does CVS have them? i also checked out the RDA for zinc and it said to take less than 20mg a day. i dont really get it... but after taking 50mg of zinc, in about 30 minutes, my voice is like perfect. i can sing beyond my highest and my lowest notes easily wihtout even warming up. well, i guess i should trying breaking the pill in half and see if what the effect would be. thanks once again everyone!

Yeah, my bottle is a 50mg. I just cut it in half and I was fine.... That is funny how much each pill is when the amount your supposed to take is less than half....hmmm

I think its because 50 is a good amount to have each day.

If you really think its an issue, find magnesium pills. The ones I have you take 3 of them, and it gives the RDA of both magnesium, and zinc, no extra.

But guys, we're singers, we're going to need more zinc that the average joe. Keep that in mind.

What are some opinions of the best time to take zinc? For example in the morning, before or maybe half way through a performance.

Unfortunately Jay Sin, it just doesn't work like that. You can't just take more because a population group 'needs it'. Everything that you take has the potential to not only cause toxicity in itself (although rare in zinc) but the oppertunity to cause interactions with absorption or drugs etc. You can't take 5 times the amount of pain killers when you are in more pain than usual for example. The RDAs are there for a reason, they are the recommended amount to take to get maximum absorption with minimum interactions.
If you want to take heavy amounts of zinc then go for it. I just put it to you than taking 50mg may not have any better effect than for example 10mg. It doesn't necessarily work in the sense that the more you take, the more effective it will be.
Also, bear in mind it is abundant in many food sources such as read meat, seafood, beans, nuts, many breakfast cererals and dairy products so you will not 'just' take 50mg if you are eating these foods too.

My two 10 yea old cats had really bad case of fleasone year. So I put that flea liquid on their backs...the kind that just has one or two squirts. Well I had two extr little bottles and I thought if one bottle would kill X amount of fleas, if I do an extra bottle on each cat, they'll be flea free...I almost killed them from the toxicity of the poison. They both went into major seizures and had to be kept on I.V. at the vet for two days. My point is, thinking megadosing on zinc will whip your voice into shape isn't the smart choice. I personally see nothing wrong with 50mg but I am not a doctor and the RDAs are there for a reason. So don't go crazy, stick to the RDA and work on the other vocal health things such as plenty of rest, right eating, hydration. As for getting the nutrients from the food...better make it organic if you want that to happen;)

Open Mic,

Sure you can take 5 times as much painkillers. LOL
My brother was a heroin and narcotic addict for 14 years. Trust me, I've seen him take enough Oxycontin to kill a horse.
Now, taking that much doesn't mean it's GOOD for you.

There is obviously a reason the Vitamin and Mineral manufacturers create things in the amounts that they do.
As for the FDA, I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them - the High Carb-Low Fat diet that the FDA and the Medical Community ignorantly promoted for over 30 years has created an epidemic of Obesity and Type II Diabetes in the United States.

The same group of people that set the RDA's also approved the food manufacturers putting Sugar and Corn Syrup in EVERYTHING.

Ever looked on a Can of Kidney Beans or Pinto Beans? Half the time - Sugar is the third or fourth thing in it - and I'm talking beans in water, not anything like NBush's baked beans or Prok and Beans. Why is it there? Because Sugar is addictive and it causes you to eat more. That's the irony about low fat foods - half the time, they take out the fats, then they replace them with various types of SUGAR! Sugar is far worse for you than the Fats are. You can eliminate all sugar, in fact you can even eliminate ALL carbohydrates, from your diet and the only thing that will happen is after the two to three week period that it takes your body transitions to burning ketones for fuel, is that you will lose weight.
Eliminate all fat from your diet and you will die - the same goes for protein.


Tim

Lol, this has deviated a little from topic....!
I'm from the UK and so don't really have any experience of the FDA so can't really comment. You mentioned about vitimin and mineral manufacturers creating these amounts for a reason. The trouble is, the concentrations that they produce are not necessarily ideal. This is true of drugs too, such as the Birth Control Pill. It has been found that the hormones used in these medications is something like 10x (I forget the exact number, it was passing information in a lecture) the required therapeutic levels. They are also well known to interact with many drugs so they are in the process of reducing th concentrations. I would be much more comfortable trusting an independant body whose job is to ensure patient safety than a manufacturer wanting to make money.
Sugar itself is not a substance that you are given an RDA beacuse of the difficulty in calculating it. In order to calculate an RDA, there needs to be clear and direct clinical symptoms in deficiency, which there is not in sugars. It doesn't make it good for you if they shove loads in food though.
Sugar is not necessarily worse for you than fats. It is all about the quantities that you ingest.
Whilst you can survive without carohydrates, it is certainly not recommended. Carbohydrates (which are just conjugated sugars) are essential sources of energy. A substantial amount of your diet should be made up of carbohyrates. Btw, the body will start to burn keytone bodies MUCH faster than than you suggested. It is the only other respiratory substrate capable of crossing the blood brain barrier after glucose. Therefore, in lack of available carbohydrate stores, keytones will become a significant respiratory substrate within a few days.
What you just described was the basic principle behind the Atkins Diet (which quite frankly is great at making you lose weight but rubbish for long term health). At the end of the day, if your energy use is greater than energy input, you will lose weight. It's not rocket science lol.

Here we've made it to healthy dieting now. Here's a tip for anyone wanting to lose weight: Put the fork down and walk around the block! You want healthy, do this: Fruits and vegetables, protein mix's like 100% whey (avoid the ones with creatine), if you want grains, make sure its made with wheat flower, not white flower, and avoid excessive amounts of sugar, salt, or fat calories. You do need fat, and you do need sodium, just remember, needing fat in your diet does not mean that you should have a box of twinkies everyday.

Back on the zinc: I would suggest this. Find your magic number. No one on the planet has the exact same health as someone else. What cures one of us will kill the other, I believe i've stated this somewhere else already. I take 46MG of zinc per day, thats 2 zinc lozenges. On days where I do shows or record, I take 3, so thats 69. As long as I don't starve myself I feel fine. I've been doing this for a couple of months now, and I have never felt poisoned, changed colors, or had to go to the doctors. In fact, excluding one day before a show when I had taken all 3 in less than a 2 hour period without eating (we went on earlier than I thought we would) where I admittedly felt a little bit under the weather, which I also attribute somewhat to preshow nerves, i've never even had to think about the zinc after taking it.

The strange thing about it is, sometimes I sing worse after taking zinc. I think it might be the particular lozenges I have, but sometimes i'm really cracky after using them. I still don't think i've found the right amount for myself, but its all trial and error. Find the lowest possible amount that has an effect, and stick with it.