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Taking Zinc Can Shorten Your Cold. Thank A 91-Year-Old Scientist For The Discovery

February 10, 2020 by Allison Aubrey

Picture for Taking Zinc Can Shorten Your Cold. Thank A 91-Year-Old Scientist For The Discovery

Your body needs trace amounts of zinc for cell division and other basic biology. Nobody's sure how it works to shorten colds.
Karl Tapales/Getty Images

The common cold is a top reason for missed work and school days. Most of us have two or three colds per year, each lasting at least a week.

There's no real cure, but studies from the last several years show that some supplement containing zinc can help shorten the duration of cold symptoms by up to 40% — depending on the amount of the mineral in each dose and what it's combined with.

Zinc has an interesting back story. It wasn't even acknowledged as an essential mineral for human health until the 1970s. But that changed thanks to the work of Dr. Ananda Prasad — a 91-year-old doctor who, decades ago, had a hunch that led to a better understanding of zinc's role in immunity.

 

Continue reading on npr.org