Health care providers usually prescribe 220 mg zinc sulfate, which contains approximately 55 mg of elemental zinc. Usually this will be between 30 and 50 mg of elemental zinc. Remember that you take in about 10 to 15 mg of zinc from food every day. Your health care provider should take this into account when prescribing how much supplemental zinc you should take. Zinc lozenges are also available in most drug stores and grocery stores, and are used for treating colds.
Zinc lozenges are also available for the treatment of colds.
How to Take It Talk to your health care provider or nutritionist before you take zinc supplements. If this bothers your stomach, you can take the zinc with a meal. Precautions Most trace minerals are toxic if you take too much, and this is true of zinc. Symptoms of toxicity are stomach upset and vomiting, usually occurring if 2,000 mg or more has been swallowed. Studies have stated that up to 150 mg is fairly safe, but that much is usually not needed and may interfere with your body's use of other minerals.