On the panel
Zinc — 2.7 mg
A small number on the label, and the reasoning behind it is the interesting part.
What It Is
Zinc is an essential trace mineral and the second most abundant one in the human body after iron. It is a structural or catalytic component of several hundred enzymes and of an entire class of proteins, the zinc fingers, whose job is to grip DNA and decide which genes get read.
There is no meaningful storage depot for zinc, which is unusual and which means intake matters continuously rather than in occasional bursts.
What It Actually Does
Three jobs, described without the marketing vocabulary.
It closes wounds
Zinc runs the matrix metalloproteinases that remodel tissue during repair and is required for the cell proliferation that closes a wound. Zinc deficiency produces wounds that will not heal, and correcting it fixes them, which is about as clean as evidence gets in nutrition.
It is part of the skin's immune apparatus
Skin is an immune organ and zinc is deeply involved in how it defends itself. The inherited zinc malabsorption disorder acrodermatitis enteropathica produces a dramatic rash around the mouth and nappy area, and it resolves completely on zinc.
It turns up in hair and nail complaints
Diffuse shedding after a shock to the system is associated with low zinc status, and white marks on nails are a folk sign with a genuine but unreliable association. Neither is diagnostic on its own.
2.7 mg In Every Serving
Our serving carries 2.7 mg against an adult requirement of roughly 8 to 11 mg a day, and the modesty is deliberate rather than accidental. The reason is copper, set out below. We would rather print a conservative figure and justify it than print an impressive one and stay quiet.
Zinc holds the shape of the zinc-finger proteins that grip DNA and runs the enzymes that remodel tissue while a wound closes. It also competes with copper for the same absorption route, which is exactly why our figure is modest rather than impressive: a daily product taken for months is a different problem from a lozenge taken for three days.
Who Tends To Fall Short
Marginal zinc status is more widespread than most people assume. People who avoid meat carry more risk on two counts: meat is the richest source there is, and the phytates in grains and pulses lock a share of the plant zinc away. Anyone with a gut condition — coeliac disease, Crohn's, or surgery that shortened the intestine — is at higher risk again, as are heavy drinkers.
The early signs are unremarkable and easy to blame on something else: slow healing, reduced appetite, a dulled sense of taste or smell, more infections than usual, and diffuse hair shedding.
Where It Turns Up In Food
| Source | Roughly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Oysters | ~32 mg per 75 g | Nothing else is remotely close |
| Beef | ~4.5 mg per 75 g | The everyday dense source |
| Pumpkin seeds | ~2.2 mg per 30 g | The best plant option |
| Cashews | ~1.6 mg per 30 g | Useful, and easy to overeat |
| Lentils | ~1.3 mg per half cup | Soaking reduces the phytates that block it |
| Chickpeas | ~1.3 mg per half cup | Better absorbed sprouted or soaked |
The Ceiling, And The Cautions
The adult upper limit is 40 mg a day from all sources, so 2.7 mg leaves an enormous margin. That is intentional.
Copper is the reason. The two minerals queue for one transporter, and a sustained high zinc intake switches on a gut-wall protein that grabs copper and carries it straight back out again. Kept up for months that produces a real copper shortfall, which brings anaemia and nerve damage with it. A high-dose zinc lozenge for three days of a cold is a completely different situation from a daily supplement taken for a year, and we are formulating for the second.
Zinc also reduces absorption of quinolone and tetracycline antibiotics. Leave a couple of hours between them.
Where This Comes From
- Zinc-dependent enzymes number in the hundreds, spanning every major metabolic class.
- Acrodermatitis enteropathica is the clearest demonstration that skin depends on zinc absorption.
- The zinc-copper antagonism is dose and duration dependent, which is why a daily product should be conservative.
General nutritional science rather than claims about this product. Nothing on this page is medical advice; see our disclaimer.
Zinc Questions
What we get asked about this line of the label specifically.
Why is your zinc figure so low?
Because this is a daily product taken for months. A large daily zinc figure looks generous on a label and risks displacing copper over time. At 2.7 mg the enzymes are covered and the copper transporter is left alone.
Does zinc clear acne?
There is a body of work on swallowed zinc for inflammatory acne, almost all of it at doses many times this one and almost all of it supervised. Ours is a nutritional amount, not a treatment.
Do white marks mean I am low on zinc?
Usually not. Most are minor trauma to the nail matrix weeks earlier. It is an association, not a diagnosis.
Can I add a separate zinc supplement?
Add the figures and keep the total well under 40 mg a day. Anyone intending to run a large dose across months rather than a fortnight should raise copper with their doctor.