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24.01.2023

This is the effect of zinc supplementation in covid | Trial

If covid patients take a hefty dose of zinc every day for 15 days, their chances of death and admission to an ICU are reduced. In addition, zinc supplementation shortens disease duration, Tunisian researchers conclude in a randomized and placebo-controlled trial.

Study
Doctors from Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital in Tunisia published a study in January 2023 in which 460 covid patients participated as test subjects. Some of the subjects were admitted to the hospital, some were not.

The researchers conducted a randomized trial in which one half of the subjects received a placebo for 15 days, while the other half took a supplement 2 times each day during that period that provided 25 milligrams of elemental zinc per supplement.

Results
The researchers monitored the subjects during the supplementation period and another 15 days after that.

In the placebo group, 9.2 percent of the subjects died, in the zinc group 6.5 percent. This means that zinc supplementation reduced the risk of death in severe infection with SARS-CoV-2 by 42 percent. However, this decrease was not statistically significant.

Zinc supplementation halved the chance of admission to the ICU. At this point, the difference between the two groups was statistically significant.

When the researchers broke down their subjects [which, by the way, according to methodologists is not very neat] into subgroups, they noticed that especially in the over-65s and in subjects with underlying diseases zinc supplementation protected against admission to the ICU and death.

In the figure below, the researchers look at both endpoints at the same time. Click on it for a larger version.

Zinc supplementation shortened the period the subjects were in the hospital by just over 3 days. In the subjects who were not in the hospital, zinc supplementation reduced the duration of the disease by almost 2 days.

Sponsor
You can see the zinc supplement that the researchers used at the top of this page. It is a product of the Tunisian Opalia Recordati. [opaliarecordati.com]

Opalia Recordati sponsored the study. Of course.

Deep sigh...

Conclusion
"When administered orally to patients hospitalized with COVID-19 without end-organ failure, zinc demonstrated its efficacy to prevent ICU admission and to reduce hospital length of stay", write the Tunisians. "For outpatients, zinc reduced symptom duration."

"Zinc should be considered for the treatment of patients with COVID-19."

Source:
Clin Infect Dis. 2023 Jan 13;76(2):185-91.

More:
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Indeed, zinc protects against corona 16.07.2021
Preventing zinc deficiency, preventing (or surviving) covid 15.07.2021

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