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Insufficient evidence for using zinc to prevent or treat colds
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Insufficient evidence for using zinc to prevent or treat colds
How effective and safe is zinc supplementation for prevention and treatment of the common cold?
Compared with placebo, supplementing with zinc may lead to little or no difference in the proportion of people developing a cold over 5 days to 7 months, and little or no reduction in the mean number of colds occurring over 5 to 18 months.
Those taking zinc supplementation to treat colds had a significantly shorter duration of illness, by about 2.4 days, but the evidence was of low certainty and it was unclear whether zinc reduced global symptom severity.
No serious adverse events were noted in the studies. There was an increased risk of non-serious adverse events for those treating the common cold with zinc. The most common side effects were aberrations of taste, gastrointestinal discomfort, oropharyngeal or nasopharyngeal dryness, pain, irritation or sensitivity of the mouth or nose, and headache.
Overall, there was wide variation in interventions (including concomitant therapy) and outcomes across the studies, as well as incomplete reporting of several domains, which needs to be considered when drawing conclusions on the efficacy of zinc for the common cold.
The common cold is an acute, self-limiting viral respiratory illness. Symptoms include nasal congestion and mucus discharge, sneezing, sore throat, cough and general malaise. Given the frequency of colds, they are a public health burden and a significant cause of lost work productivity and school absenteeism. There are no established interventions to prevent colds or shorten their duration. However, zinc supplements are commonly recommended and taken for this purpose.
Nault D, et al. Zinc for prevention and treatment of the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2024;5:CD014914. This review contains 34 trials, which included 8526 participants.