The scientific research proves the effectiveness of zinc for testosterone levels boosting. How do zinc and testosterone in your body interact? What is the right zinc supplement dosage? Read on and find out.
The connection between zinc and testosterone
One of the most common reasons behind supplementing zinc is to maintain the optimal levels of testosterone. It is one of the vital micronutrients and it is found in eggs, legumes and meat. Oysters are particularly known for being an aphrodisiac and an excellent source of zinc. Zinc supplementation will cause an increase of testosterone, however only if there a shortage of zinc in the first place. In high dosages zinc can act as aromatase inhibitor and prevent the conversion of testosterone to estrogen.
Of course zinc is involved in many more processes in the body. About one hundred enzymes require zinc for their catalytic activity. Zinc is important to maintain immune function, heal wounds, synthesize proteins and DNA. It plays also role in cell division.
Zinc testosterone studies
A numerous studies targeting zinc and testosterone have been performed. The results of the studies are conclusive. If you’re missing zinc, because e.g. you lose it due to sweating, your testosterone levels will drop. This is why it’s essential to supplement zinc (or consume enough of foods containing zinc) even if you’re healthy active athlete. If you have low testosterone levels, taking zinc will also help bring to normalize your hormonal levels.
If you’re looking for scientific studies about zinc efficiency, read here and here.
Zinc supplements for men
What is the best form of zinc for testosterone? There is the most popular zinc sulfate supplement. It is cheap, however zinc sulphate may cause stomach irritations. Better take zinc gluconate or zinc citrate supplements.
Of course you can get zinc from food as well. The best four dietary sources are meats, nuts and seeds, cereals and shellfish.
Due to zinc deficiency resulting in low testosterone, almost all testosterone boosting stacks contain zinc in one form or another. E.g. Prime Male contains zinc as zinc citrate, TestoFuel – as zinc monomethionine and aspartate. TestoFuel contains also oyster extract.
Zinc supplement dosage
Zinc should be supplemented every day, because the body has no ability to store it. Is 50mg of zinc too much? Well, the tolerable upper limit of intake (TUL) for zinc is 40mg, taking more than 100mg would cause unpleasant side effects like fever, nausea or diarrhea, so it should be taken with caution. So called superloading of zinc is safe in the short term (2 to 4 months), but not longer.
There are two standard dosages of zinc. The low daily dosage of zinc is 5-10mg and can be taken as a preventative by users without a zinc deficit. The recommended dietary allowance for an adult male is 11mg. The high dosage of 25-50mg elemental zinc should be taken in case of a zinc deficiency risk.
There are a few zinc compounds used as zinc supplements, make sure to take the right amount of elemental zinc, to the zinc compound. E.g. zinc sulfate dosage is 22-220mg a day delivering respectively 5 to 50mg elemental zinc.
Zinc and libido
Along with improving the testosterone levels zinc can also raise libido. Oyster. As previously mentioned supplementing zinc will only work if there is a shortage of zinc in the body.