And is it SAFE to take 50mg to 100mg of Zinc in the long term??
It's safER if you are getting regular checkups like the people
in the study that took 100mg/day for a year. Most people are
probably safe but, for example, if you were drinking water every
day from pipes that leach zinc and stacking 100mg/day on top
of that, that could be a good way to significantly drop your white
blood cell count and cause other problems.
IMHO:
The only way zinc significantly affects acne is when it
takes the form of zinc superoxide dismutase (ZSOD), which requires
a normal melatonin cycle to produce in the quantities and
rhythm that evolution intended. Melatonin is what stimulates
cells to produce significant quantities of superoxide dismutase
for the zinc to use. Having a normal melatonin
cycle is not something modern people can do very easily.
(Though it's hard for acne-free primitive peoples without
electricity to *avoid* having a normal melatonin cycle.)
It requires:
a) sleeping in total darkness at the same time every night.
b) living in sunlight all day long, not artificial light; suppressing melatonin
during the day is as important as not suppressing it at night.
c) dropping caffeine, which screws up the melatonin cycle
as well as depleting zinc.
If you have meat in your diet, you should get enough zinc to
make all the ZSOD you need -- if you had a normal melatonin
cycle (which virtually nobody living with/near electricity does).
I take 50mg zing that I purchased from Vitamin Shoppe for like 6 bucks. I feel like it did somewhat clear me up but I dont recommend taking it for longer then a month especially if you are anemic. I did definitly see results, and I think its especially good for homronal acne.
Zinc ascorbate has superoxide dismutase-like activity and in vitro antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.