Cold-Eze aka: zinc lozenges question

K

Kay Bixler

Kay Bixler
Who else takes zinc to fight off colds?

I find only the lozenge form works but they screw up my palate pretty severely. The zinc reacts with acid and results in H2S flavor and after extended use any wine seems to taste almost salty and kind of shrill on the finish. Is there an antidote to this besides time? I tried milk but it did not help.

On the plus side I have not had more than a sniffle in three years.

Best,
Kay
 
The best cure for the cold is to be a teacher. After about 10 years, you build up a resistance to almost every known variety. As Zuleika Dobson said about her furcoat, you can bounce blizzards off the resistance you develop.
 
Some of my best friends are teachers, after listening to them I think I would rather have a cold.

But lets stay on topic. What can I use to counteract the zinc?
 
I use the lozenges. I wait till I'm good and well to start drinking again because, if I start too soon, the cold drags on longer. Don't know what to recommend to un-zinc your palate.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
The best cure for the cold is to be a teacher. After about 10 years, you build up a resistance to almost every known variety. As Zuleika Dobson said about her furcoat, you can bounce blizzards off the resistance you develop.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, that should be kicking in about now. I hope you're right.
 
zinc nasal sprays have been shown to cause permanant loss of smell, which isn't the question here as we're talking lozenges and sense of taste, but still, that's enough to keep me away from them.
 
Somewhat tangential (but relevant to the question) - an interesting analysis of whether or not zinc has efficacy in preventing the common cold:

Loading…

www.expert-reviews.com

His conclusion: "Although several randomized trials indicate that properly composed zinc lozenges can shorten the duration of colds by 2040%, the topic should be further studied to determine the optimal lozenge compositions and treatment strategies."

Another recent review of the available trial data:

Loading…

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

...and some hypothesizing on mechanism of action:

Loading…

www.expert-reviews.com

To the original question, zinc acetate produces much less bad taste than zinc gluconate. This blurb from livestrong suggests taking them with food decreases the bad taste (but what's really happening is absorbing the zinc into the food potentially decreasing efficacy)... http://www.livestrong.com/article/364974-zinc-medication-side-effects/

Here's some advice from George Eby, who developed zinc lozenges, offers some comments on bad taste:

Loading…

www.cmaj.ca

My research further shows that lozenges, which dissolve over 20 to 30 minutes, containing 18-mg of zinc (from anhydrous zinc acetate) in a 5-gram directly compressed dextrose based lozenge (with magnesium stearate tablet lubricant, stevia, flavor oil on fumed silica as needed and nothing else) are the best products to shorten colds 5 to 7 days due to their reliability, simplicity and ease of manufacturer. On the other hand, if one were to add 1.3 mole of citric acid to this formula, efficacy would be totally eliminated. Although this much zinc in the form of zinc gluconate lozenges is vile in taste, zinc acetate in the above formulation (1-100 ratio of anhydrous zinc acetate to dextrose) is satisfactory in taste. If one were to significantly reduce the dextrose to zinc ratio, flavor would be damaged. These zinc acetate lozenges are orally astringent, which is an immutable property of ionic zinc. They can cause nausea with over use. Adding citric acid eliminates astringency, which is clear evidence of elimination of ionic zinc. Formulation is absolutely vital!
Click to expand...
 
originally posted by Dan McQ:

...and some hypothesizing on mechanism of action:

Loading…

www.expert-reviews.com
Click to expand...

Surely it's too good to be true?

"I have made some observations of the mouthnose BCEC using a highly sensitive Fluke® multimeter."

Even the VLM couldn't get you out of that one.
 
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
As Zuleika Dobson said about her furcoat, you can bounce blizzards off the resistance you develop.
Click to expand...

Also, is this an STD reference?
Click to expand...

Max Beerbohm's only novel and hilariously funny if you share his sense of humor, which I do. I also recommend Seven Men and Two Others, a sort of collection of short stories.
 
My tongue is healing and wine is tasting nearly normal again but this experience has put me off the zinc for good. Poking around the Internet found lots of stories from people who had similar and worse experiences with the lozenges. A few claim to have lost their sense of taste completely. It's too bad because the stuff really works.

Jonathan, I'm currently obsessed with reading about string theory and trying to decide if space is an empty void. For a dumb artist it's pretty slow going. Need to read each sentence at least twice. Max Beerbohm will have to wait.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
The best cure for the cold is to be a teacher. After about 10 years, you build up a resistance to almost every known variety. As Zuleika Dobson said about her furcoat, you can bounce blizzards off the resistance you develop.
Click to expand...

I must disagree. My wife is the director of a nursery school and gets sick every year from whatever new strain those preschoolers are incubating. She would often pass it along to me until job changes introduced me to the ultimate cure for the common (or not so common) cold - commuting on the NYC Subway.
 
Thanks for this; I have read and enjoyed ZD and found at least Seven Men free for the Kindle (not sure where I can find the Two Others).

originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
originally posted by Kay Bixler:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
As Zuleika Dobson said about her furcoat, you can bounce blizzards off the resistance you develop.
Click to expand...

Also, is this an STD reference?
Click to expand...

Max Beerbohm's only novel and hilariously funny if you share his sense of humor, which I do. I also recommend Seven Men and Two Others, a sort of collection of short stories.
Click to expand...
 
Seven Men is the original book, published around 1920. Seven Men and Two Others has one more story (with two people named in the title)and was published around 1950. I expect it is still in copyright and thus not available as a Kindle freebie. But the original does have Enoch Soames and Savanarola Brown, which were my two favorites.

If you like these, though they aren't like Beerbohm, two further Victorian comedies about bumbling middle-class types are Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith and Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I imagine they are also on Kindle as freebies.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Seven Men is the original book, published around 1920. Seven Men and Two Others has one more story (with two people named in the title)and was published around 1950. I expect it is still in copyright and thus not available as a Kindle freebie. But the original does have Enoch Soames and Savanarola Brown, which were my two favorites.

If you like these, though they aren't like Beerbohm, two further Victorian comedies about bumbling middle-class types are Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith and Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I imagine they are also on Kindle as freebies.
Click to expand...

I know that Three Men in a Boat is as I downloaded it about a year ago. Any Gilbert and Sullivan fan needs to read the "comic song" segment.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
... two further Victorian comedies about bumbling middle-class types are Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith and Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I imagine they are also on Kindle as freebies.
Click to expand...

Thanks I have read both; the introduction to the version of Three Men I read years ago noted that millions of copies sold in the US without JKJ receiving a penny as it was published prior to the copyright era.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top