Researchers determine zinc acetate successfully reduces duration of common cold

HELSINKI, Finland — According to the latest meta-analysis of three randomized controlled trials, zinc acetate lozenges may increase the rate of recovery from the common cold by three-fold, researchers from the University of Helsinki reported Thursday. On the fifth day of a cold, as many as 70% of the zinc lozenge patients had recovered from that cold as compared to 27% of the placebo patients.



"Given the strong evidence of efficacy and the low risk of adverse effects, common cold patients may already be encouraged to try zinc acetate lozenges not exceeding 100 mg of elemental zinc per day for treating their colds," stated Harri Hemilä, lead author from the University of Helsinki.



The effect of zinc acetate lozenges was not modified by age, sex, race, allergy, smoking or baseline common cold severity. Therefore the 3-fold increase in the recovery rate from common cold may be widely applicable.



The dose of zinc in the three studies was between 80 mg to 92 mg per day. And none of the three analyzed zinc lozenge studies observed serious adverse effects of zinc.



Even though there is strong evidence that properly formulated zinc acetate lozenges can increase the rate of recovery from the common cold by three fold, many zinc lozenges on the market appear to have either too low doses of zinc or they contain substances that bind zinc ions, such as citric acid, the researchers noted. Therefore, the findings of this meta-analysis should not be directly extrapolated to the wide variety of zinc lozenges on the current market.