Elie Zainoun says, “Zinc! I get nauseated even from the load of supplements you recommend with copper. I also get nauseated from oysters. Any solutions around that?” Elie, well, actually, if you could clarify for me as a reply to your question in the Q&A, what is the context of how you’re consuming the oysters? Are you consuming an oyster with nothing else or are you consuming the oysters with a meal? I know that my general recommendation is — so she gets nauseated by oysters with food. That’s very interesting.
Let me give my response to the zinc, which is simple, and then we can try to judge whether it’s likely the same issue with the oysters. With the zinc, my general recommendation is to take zinc on an empty stomach. The thing that is not controversial is that phytate is the principal inhibitor of zinc absorption. Phytate is found in whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
I think there’s very broad agreement across the zinc research community that taking zinc not with a meal that contains whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes is going to lead to higher zinc absorption. Then there’s some controversy. Does it matter whether the zinc is on an empty stomach compared to a phytate-free meal, which would be a meal that doesn’t have any whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes? Because there’s a gray area there, I say if you can, take it on an empty stomach. If you can’t, take it with a phytate-free meal.
Generally, it’s the case that if someone takes 15 milligrams of zinc with a full glass of water, they are very unlikely to get nauseated from it. Whereas if almost anyone takes 50 milligrams of zinc with a full glass of water on an empty stomach, they’re almost definitely going to get nauseated from it. I would get nauseated from it. Taking the low dose should allow you to take it on an empty stomach, but for some people like Elie, she does get nauseated even taking only 15 milligrams on an empty stomach.
Well, you have two options. The ideal thing would be figure out the lowest amount of food that it takes to — Oh, I’m sorry. This is a he, not a she. Sorry about that.
Is it Elie or is it Eli? Elie. Okay, perfect. The first approach, Elie, is that you want to try to like see, does a little bit of bone broth or a little bit of juice or a little bite of food or something little like that, does that allow you to take a small dose of zinc without nausea? If it does, then I would do that on the basis that it might be better absorbed. But if your meals are primarily phytate-free, then it’s not that big a deal to take it with the meal if it’s making you sick to take it away from a meal.
In your case, I would say just take the 15 milligrams of zinc with the meal, and then judge that based on how effective it is. Maybe the absorption is less, maybe. But in terms of whether that matters, you’re looking at are you able to get your plasma zinc up to where you want it if you’re testing? If you’re not testing, do you have any symptoms of zinc deficiency, and can you effectively get rid of them by taking the zinc with a meal? That’s what I would do. I don’t know about the oysters.
I mean, the oysters, there can be other things in the oysters that are making you nauseated. There could be histamine. There could be viruses. There’s a whole lot of things in oysters.
I think oysters are amazing food if they don’t make you sick, but some people, sometimes, oysters make you sick. So, I would apply the same exact principle of the oysters. If you eat the oyster at the end of a phytate-free meal, is it still making you sick? If so, I don’t think that’s the zinc. I think it’s something else.
And your digestive system might not be up to the task of eating oysters right now at this moment. But if at the end of a phytate-free meal if you can fit in one or two oysters and it doesn’t make you nauseated at all, then I think that’s great. Oysters are probably the ideal zinc supplement if you can get them in. You would probably want to have a couple a day.
A couple of oysters a day goes a long way to getting your zinc in. Thanks, Elie, for your question.
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Source: Chris Masterjohn, PhD
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