Can zinc and calcium be supplemented at the same time?

Zinc and calcium are both essential trace elements for the human body. Trace amounts of calcium help the body's bones develop and prevent bone aging and hyperplasia. Zinc can show significant effects on human growth and development, enhancing immunity, regulating endocrine, etc. Children can supplement it by drinking zinc gluconate. However, zinc and calcium cannot be supplemented at the same time. Why is this? Let’s find out.

Zinc supplementation means replenishing the essential trace element zinc for the human body. Zinc supplementation plays an extremely important role in important physiological processes such as human growth and development, reproductive genetics, immunity, and endocrine.

Zinc exists in many enzyme systems, such as carbonic anhydrase, respiratory enzymes, lactate dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase, alkaline phosphatase, DNA and RNA polymerase, etc. It is an essential substance for the synthesis of nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates and the utilization of vitamin A. It has the effect of promoting growth and development and improving taste. Zinc deficiency can cause poor taste and smell, anorexia, slow growth and below-normal intellectual development. To supplement zinc, you can eat zinc-rich foods regularly: such as zinc protein, oysters, walnuts, egg yolks, seafood, etc.

Generally, calcium and zinc cannot be supplemented at the same time, because chemically zinc and calcium are both divalent metal ions. Taking them at the same time will produce antagonism due to competing for the same protein carrier, which will seriously affect the absorption of calcium, and zinc will be almost not absorbed. There should be at least two hours between zinc supplementation and calcium supplementation. You can also supplement zinc first to promote the division, growth and regeneration of children's bone cells, laying a good foundation for calcium deposition.

But this is only in theory. In clinical practice, there are many calcium and zinc supplements that combine together, such as calcium gluconate zinc oral solution, which combines the two into one and can be supplemented. If it is calcium and zinc alone, it is not recommended to supplement them. Generally, you can supplement zinc first and then calcium. At the same time, the food should be diversified, do not be picky, and check regularly. The richest sources of zinc in food are lean pork, lean beef, lean lamb, fish and oysters.

Among plant foods, hard-shell foods such as walnut kernels are the richest in zinc, so eat more fish. Seafood, pumpkin, eggplant, cabbage, beans, and nuts are foods rich in zinc. However, friends who are already zinc deficient should still take some zinc supplement products, such as Zinc Selenium, which can supplement zinc quickly without side effects.

Experts believe that the best order for supplementing these two trace elements is zinc first and then calcium. If zinc is supplemented during the day and calcium at night, the absorption effect will be better. Because children's growth and development is a process of rapid cell division, growth and regeneration. In this process, zinc not only plays an important catalytic role, but also widely participates in the synthesis and metabolism of protein and growth hormone, and is the base for physical development.

If you give your child zinc supplements first, it can accelerate the growth of cells, including bone cells, and the increase and growth of bone cells is precisely the basis of calcium deposition. Therefore, giving children calcium supplements after zinc supplementation will be more conducive to calcium absorption, deposition and utilization. Moreover, calcium absorption is generally related to vitamin A and vitamin D, and zinc directly affects the metabolism of vitamin A and assists vitamin D in the absorption of calcium. Therefore, supplementing zinc first can achieve twice the result with half the effort in calcium supplementation.

In addition, expert Jiang Yifang also reminded: The common compound iron, zinc and calcium supplements on the market are not suitable for children and should be supplemented individually.