Good article on dangers of zinc. Too much can cause a myriad of health problems.

[snagglepuss]

If you take zinc supplements this article fom the LA Times is worth reading. Excessive amounts of zinc, according to early evidence, could lead to learning and memory problems, nerve damage, urinary tract problems and other negative effects.


snip


in November, in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Flinn and colleagues reported Alzheimer's-like memory problems in mice that were fed a zinc-enriched diet.

Zinc, copper and iron are all found in the plaque that builds up in brains of Alzheimer's patients. And while researchers try to figure out what that means, data suggest that removing zinc from the brain slows mental decline, says Imre Lengyel of University College London's Institute of Ophthalmology who has published studies on links between zinc and macular degeneration



snip


Denture cream

Zinc raised other alarms last year, when researchers began to notice weakness, balance and memory issues and other neurological trouble in some patients. Sleuthing revealed the only common link: All of the patients used large amounts of denture cream enhanced with zinc.

snip

Zinc concentrations ranged from 17 to 34 milligrams per gram of denture cream, testing showed. That means that some people were exposed to as much as 330 milligrams of zinc a day, Trivedi says, though it's still not clear how much of that zinc actually got into their bloodstream. In some cases, nerve damage was permanent.



snip


Link to cancer

The brain isn't the only region of concern with zinc. The prostate contains some of the highest levels of zinc in the human body, and some evidence suggests a link between zinc and prostate cancer.



snip

Nasal sprays

Researchers recommend avoiding nasal sprays containing zinc, as well. An October study in the journal PLoS One found that the Zicam brand of homeopathic zinc-enriched nasal spray caused long-term damage to the sense of smell in mice and signs of nasal nerve damage in people.



snip

The recommended daily intake is 11 milligrams for men and 8 milligrams for women.




http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-zinc21-2009dec21,0,5525709.story?page=1

[TwilightGardener]

1. Thanks for posting this--my husband swears by Zicam, I'm going to have

to show him this.

[snagglepuss]

2. You'll want to read the following article about FDA pulling Zicam off the shelves.

Zicam pulled from shelves; consumers urged to stop using products

FDA warning: Zicam gel destroys sense of smell


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31388177/ns/health-cold_and_flu/

[TwilightGardener]

4. !!!--Now I remember him saying something about this, he must have

heard it on the news last summer--thanks.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. How strange! I've read of cases where Zn deficiency caused loss of sense of smell ...

and Zn supplement restored it. :shrug: Maybe there's some chelating agent in the formula, and it extracts zinc instead of restoring. Just a guess. IANAD.

[snagglepuss]

12. My guess would be that a vitamin manufacturer planted that story.

[eppur_se_muova]

20. Exceedingly doubtful; it's been known for decades.

It's been known for a long time that certain foods can cause zinc depletion. One of the amino acids -- probably arginine, possibly histidine -- is the usual culprit. The story was told in Berton Roueche's Medical Detectives.

Zinc is a necessary nutrient, so both zinc deficiency and zinc poisoning are possible, but the healthy range of zinc content in the diet seems to be fairly wide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_deficiency

[dflprincess]

3. And fish oil and niacin - which can control cholestoral

can also cause the same liver problems as prescription statins. As I just found out. My cholestoral has never been better and I was so happy that my doctor was willing to work with something more natural - then the liver enyzeme test came back (and went back to normal when I cut out the two offending substances).

Rats.

[tblue]

5. How much were you taking? nt

[Celebration]

8. I'm betting on the niacin having done this

Rather than the fish oil.

[dflprincess]

10. I was taking 1 gram of fish oil

and 750 mg of niacin 2x daily (this was after we tried 500 mg 2x daily and it didn't help) - the fish oil was also added at that point. The higher dose of niacin is still much less than a friend takes with no problems (though I know we all react differently).

I did some checking and both niacin and/or fish oil can cause the problem maybe for me it is the mix of the two. I go back in March to see where the cholesterol is at and to make sure the enzymes are stable and we'll figure out where to go from there. My doctor may try lower doses and closer monitoring because he'd prefer to avoid statins when possible but with my family history cholesterol is a concern and we need to figure out something.

[Sanity Claws]

13. That's a tremendous amount of niacin

1500 mg a day -- the RDA is 20 mg.

Did you do this under a doctor's supervision? I can see increasing one's intake but that's about 75 times the RDA.

[Celebration]

15. Yes, the niacin

Seems way more out of line than the fish oil.............

[dflprincess]

16. I was working with my doctor on this

I had been on 1000 (500 2 x daily) and while my cholestoral improved, it was still not good enough for someone considered high risk for heart problems (my dad died of heart disease at 44 - that's why I'm considered high risk).

My friend's husband, who has had heart problems has been on 2000 mg daily for a couple years (with his cardiologist's supervision) and has had no ill effects. He is also on a very low dose of a statin.

I imagine it is a matter of everyone reacting differently and I'm hoping my doctor will be willing to fiddle around with the doses until we find one that works for me. I would still rather avoid the prescription drugs if I can - and now I wonder how I'll react to them anyway.

BTW, aren't RDAs usually set to the minimum a person needs?

[Sanity Claws]

17. RDAs are not minimum

RDA stands for recommended daily allowance. I remember it used to be set at a minimum.

Of course, there's a lot of discussion about what is the correct level for RDA. I'm pretty sure Vitamin C was reset several years ago and it looks like Vitamin D RDA will be reexamined, in light of the recent studies regarding it.

I don't blame you for wanting to avoid statins. Is your doctor having you take niacin in isolation or together with other Vitamin Bs? My understanding is that the Bs work together; you'd be able to use more of the niacin you are taking if it were combined with other B vitamins.

Is your doctor an MD or does he have a different designation? I used to see a ND (naturopath) but stopped because I moved.

[dflprincess]

18. My doctor is an MD

(an internist) Somewhat younger and has more of an open mind and doesn't turn to his prescription pad first for everything.

I was taking a B complex but I suppose it's possible I needed more of the other "B's" to make the large niacin dose be less harmful. I'll have to ask him about that when I see him in March. He ran a bunch of other blood tests which all came back within normal ranges and the enzymes were improving - I'll have to admit I didn't realize how lousy I was feeling until I stopped taking those things.

[Sanity Claws]

19. I've been thinking about your situation

It really does sound wacko to me. Your doctor is treating niacin as though it were a prescription drug -- something taken in isolation and not any thought given to the synergistic value of other B vitamins or the effect that a superdosage of B3 would have on stores of other things in your body.
Did the doctor talk to you about other ways of lowering cholesterol like exercise or a diet change?
Or was he treating niacin as some kind of silver bullet?

[gateley]

6. Yikes! I've been sucking on zinc lozenges non-stop for 5 days to thwart a cold --

better get back to the recommended dose.

The hidden zinc in products like denture cream are worrisome. I wonder why denture cream has zinc? I don't use it, but just the same...what IS it in that I DO use and don't know about?

Thanks for posting this!!

[snagglepuss]

7. I don't believe a short term excess of lozenges is a danger but I too was

startled to see zinc in products like denture cream. I was just reading another article that explained how Zicam permanently kills cells used for smelling which is also shocking since so many people use the stuff.

[gateley]

9. I'd heard about the Zicam but somehow didn't make the connection to the

Coldeeze which is my go-to miracle when I'm coming down with a cold. I'll have to look at denture cream next time I'm at the store and see if zinc is listed on the label. It would concern me if these products weren't identified and we had no idea of what we were ingesting.

Even so, if I used denture cream and if I did notice zinc on the label, I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought -- after all, it's good for you, right? :7

[Sanity Claws]

14. It'll cause an imbalance in other minerals

I knew someone who used to supplement zinc, I think at 80-90 mg daily.
After a while, she started developing signs of magnesium deficiency.