Supplementing with zinc may not prevent the common cold, but evidence suggests it could reduce its duration by several days, according to a systematic review. When researchers broke down the studies, they found there may be little or no reduction in the risk of developing a cold when supplementing with zinc compared to placebos. However, a review of eight studies of 972 people found that taking zinc may reduce the length of cold symptoms by about two days.
At the same time, the researchers said they had little confidence in the evidence showing zinc could positively impact the severity of cold symptoms. “The evidence on zinc is far from settled: we need more research before we can be confident in its effects,” said senior author Susan Wieland, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in a Cochrane news release. “Future studies should adopt standardized methods for administering and reporting treatments and defining and reporting outcomes.
Additional studies focusing on the most promising types and doses of zinc products and using appropriate statistical methods to assess outcomes that are important to patients will enable us to understand whether zinc may have a place in the treatment of the common cold.” As for adverse events, common side effects potentially due to zinc supplementation reported during the trials included unpleasant taste, loss of smell, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. No serious adverse events were reported.
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