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Hey 180-Ders!
Whenever I supplement with liquid zinc, my gallbladder freaks out. I’m only taking 4mg a day when I take it– but if I take it for a couple days in a row, I have crazy gallbladder issues (which sometimes corresponds to general digestive unhappiness as well).I think the zinc helps my skin a bit, but I can’t take enough without the bad gallbladder issues. There were times when I was eating a ton of oysters (lots of zinc), but it didn’t do a thing for my skin.
I’m trying to figure out exactly what is going on– anyone else experience anything like this?
My best guess is that I have copper in my gallbladder (in gall stones or in there some other way) and that the zinc is displacing/detoxing the copper.
Any thoughts?
No real thoughts on why that would be, but I am generally not a fan of supplementing with minerals in isolation like that.
OK, thanks for your thoughts Matt. I’ve always assumed I had excess copper because I was on b.c. for a while, but maybe supplementing zinc isn’t the way to fix it.
There are plenty of meats that are high in zinc. Like Matt said, your body will handle it much better in food than as a raw element.
Check out this recent article on the overuse of supplements. It’s very rare that we really need to take extra vitamins and minerals unless we’re eating an extremely impoverished diet. Even McDonald’s can provide everything you need.
Thanks for the link, David. I totally agree, I’d much rather get my supplements from food. But no matter how many oysters I eat or how much liver I eat, my skin doesn’t clear up. When I take liquid zinc, it does. Oddly, liquid zinc also takes away all b.o. without having to wear deodorant.
I suppose even if I do get good effects from the supplement (eg, clear skin), that doesn’t mean it’s making me healthy overall.That’s interesting. If you’re confident it’s the liquid zinc that’s clearing your complexion and causing your gall bladder problems, then you have a real dilemma. It could be that the high concentration of zinc in the liquid is having some effect on your system besides correcting a deficiency–a medicinal, rather than a nutritional effect–which would be something you’d want to monitor carefully. It’s also possible you just have absorption problems and that’s why you’re not getting enough zinc from your food.
In the case of iron, I know that absorption can be drastically increased by eating your meals with something acidic like orange juice, or even with alcohol. On the other hand, tea, coffee, whole grains, certain vegetables, and dairy products inhibit absorption. I’m not positive that the same rules will apply with zinc as with iron, but they’re both heavy metals so it’s worth trying. As a side effect, you’ll also absorb more iron, which depending on your situation could be good or bad. Personally, I learned these tricks because I was trying to cut back on iron, since my levels used to be a little high. But low iron is more likely for pre-menopausal women.
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