I am looking for a good form of zinc to supplement with. I see all form…zinc picolinate, zinc gluconate, chelated zinc, etc. I understand the type of zinc in ZMA (zinc monomethionine & asparate) is probably the best for absorbtion and being used effectivly by the body. ZMA dosn’t seem cost effective for what I’m after.
If you haven’t tried ZMA yet, you should give it a try before you determine whether it is cost effective. Your quality of sleep should improve and the combo in the suppplement should also support your nervous system for additional strength gains. And possibly most importantly ZMA is shown to significantly raise both GH and testosterone levels. ZMA seems pretty cost effective at 56 cents/day (buy two get one free/ 3 month supply) for all these benefits.
I know what you mean about cost affective - It’s hard to just keep adding sup’s to your accumulating monthly bills. You can try Brewer’s yeast - it is supposed to be an excellent source of zinc and magnesium - as well as a host of other minerals. It’s easily absorbed and costs about 5$/ bottle. I’ve been taking it for about a month now and found my sleep to have improved.
where do u get brewers yeast? How much do you take per day?
U can buy anywhere online - any pharmacy(for pill form) I think you can buy it in bulk at any wine making store. Not sure about how much to take in bulk form - I just take the pills and follow recomended dose.
You can buy brewer’s yeast in bulk at about any health food store. When I used to take it, I would add a heaping teaspoon to my shake. Be careful because it can really give you gas. Make sure you aren’t going on any dates right afterward.
I have tried ZMA for 2 mos, but I’m uncertain if I noticed any of the benefits for this supplement. This is mostly my fault, about the time I started taking ZMA I went through a major slacking period for lifting (king-size motivation problem). One thing I do not care for about the ZMA is you are suppose to take it before bed. I work 12hr shifts and barley find time to eat one meal. Buy the time I get home I’m hungry as hell. The ZMA I was taking stated to take on an empty stomch and to avoid taking with anything containin calcium. I found a delima in tring to take the stuff properly.
All I’m looking for a present is a good zinc supp to add to my multi-vit. Since discovering this site and BioTest products I’m interested in tring Tribex and/or methoxy-7(?), if finances allow add some ZMA to the mix in the future. I would actually love to try all the Biotest products if finances would allow. I’m unfamiliar with the Biotest products, so I don’t know yet how to stack them, etc to reap the most benefit. Guess I will have to continue reading this site.
Okay, Brock may have made nicey-nice with
Victor Conte, but I haven’t. That’s just
my honest opinion.
The fact that forms of zinc such as the methionine or aspartate may be absorbed
twice as efficiently does NOT mean that you have any trouble whatsoever absorbing just as much, or even absorbing TOO much, by taking
the oxide. Yes, you need twice as many
mg of zinc when it’s only half as well absorbed
but that’s very doable. In fact, the supplements you’re taking may already have
(you should check) so much zinc in them that you should be more concerned about possibly getting too much zinc already (which is not good) than about adding yet more.
It is also not true that calcium must be
avoided when taking zinc. Yes, absorption
may be somewhat decreased but see above argument. Keep in mind that life on Earth
has been consuming calcium with zinc, at the same time in meals, for the last few billion years. It’s not as if cavemen had to tell their buddies, “Zog, you idiot! Don’t you know you can’t eat that root and the deer penis at the same time? The calcium in the root will fuck up your absorption of zinc from the deer penis!!” (To steal a line from a former T-mag writer.)
Am I saying that ZMA is worthless? No, I use it sometimes when dieting heavily and my diet and
the other supplements I am using are not providing enough zinc. Most of the time however I have no doubt I’m already getting as much zinc as I should, and unfortunately there are probably times in which I get too much, despite not using ZMA at those times. (Zinc is a pro-oxidant and excess zinc is bad.)
So how much zinc is to much? What’s the ‘prime’ amount to take? (how much in mg)
I don’t know the best amount, but for sure
if you’re eating a good amount of red meat
and getting hundreds of percent of the RDA
for zinc in supplements besides, you are much more likely to be taking excess zinc by adding ZMA than you are to be correcting a supposed deficiency.
For that matter, that would be true without
the red meat as well, if it’s really hundreds
of percent of the RDA that is being satisfied by supplements. Which is very possible, because sometimes a single protein bar will be 100% of the RDA for zinc.
The RDA, by the way, is set considerably higher than what the average person needs.
I’d have to look it up, but I think it is
2 or 3 times higher, and is designed so
as to be sufficient for practically everybody. However, I’ll readily grant that Conte is correct that athletes who train hard do need considerably more zinc than the average person, so 200% or even 300% of the RDA, if
in the zinc oxide form, is probably reasonable
for supplementation.
If you are receiving no other zinc at all,
or relatively little zinc, ZMA has all you
need. I believe that is 50 mg of the methionine form but I may not be recalling
correctly.
When dieting, or if using no supplements
containing zinc and not eating large amounts
of red meat, it’s quite possible you’d be
deficient in zinc and ZMA could help.