Can You Take Zinc and Magnesium Together?
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Medically reviewed by Kayla Girgen, RD
Zinc and magnesium are two essential minerals required for many processes in the body.
Zinc is involved in maintaining blood glucose and supporting the immune system but also plays roles in the digestive, reproductive, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. Magnesium is involved in bone health, blood pressure, and blood glucose control, as well as in the function of your muscles, nerves, and brain.
Some people don’t get enough of either mineral through their diet alone and may need to take supplements for both, potentially as part of a combination product. There's also some evidence that the supplement combination can benefit people with type 2 diabetes.
It’s safe for most people to take magnesium and zinc together at appropriate doses. But at high doses, they can actually interfere with each other's absorption.
Here's everything you need to know about taking zinc and magnesium together.
Benefits of Zinc
Zinc plays a role in initiating hundreds of chemical reactions in the body. It also works as an antioxidant and has some anti-inflammatory abilities. Not surprisingly, not having enough zinc can impact many different medical conditions:
May improve your immune health: Physiologically, zinc plays many different roles in the immune system. Zinc may help decrease the duration of the common cold, though these results haven’t been totally consistent. Maintaining proper zinc levels can also avoid the increased risk of severe pneumonia or other infections.
May decrease your risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD): AMD is an eye disease that can make your central vision blurry. People with lower zinc intake seem to have a higher risk of AMD, so getting enough zinc might be able to prevent that increased risk. Additionally, for people who have AMD, taking zinc in combination with other antioxidants may slow progression of symptoms.
May aid in managing type 2 diabetes: Zinc plays a role in insulin regulation. Research still isn't completely clear whether zinc supplementation helps most people with diabetes, but one meta-analysis of multiple studies showed benefits in terms of lower blood glucose levels.
May improve depression: Multiple trials have shown that zinc seems to improve depression in many people, used either alone or in addition to drug treatment. Plus, people with depression often have low levels of zinc.
Some mixed evidence shows that zinc may also be helpful for other conditions, including acne, stomach ulcers, and wound healing.
Benefits of Magnesium
Magnesium helps trigger hundreds of chemical reactions in the body. Scientists have been learning more about the key role magnesium might play in different health conditions. It's believed magnesium could have the following benefits:
May protect bone health: Maintaining proper magnesium levels may reduce the risk of osteoporosis and low bone density. However, magnesium's impact on bone health isn't as clear as other vitamins and minerals like vitamin D and calcium.
May reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes: A higher level of dietary magnesium has shown to reduce type 2 diabetes risk. In fact, magnesium deficiency is common among people with diabetes. However, larger studies are needed to prove if magnesium supplementation may improve insulin resistance and reduce blood glucose.
May reduce high blood pressure: Although promising, studies have been conflicting about the role of magnesium for people with high blood pressure (hypertension). Any effect may be minimal.
May improve migraine headaches: Some research has shown magnesium supplements may help people reduce the frequency and severity of their migraine headaches, which have actually been linked to a low level of magnesium.
Researchers have also explored magnesium's potential role in other conditions, such as depression, sleep, asthma, and epilepsy, but these results aren’t conclusive.
Benefits of Taking Zinc and Magnesium Together
Magnesium and zinc are both minerals essential to life, and it’s important to get enough of both for your overall health. For some people, taking magnesium along with zinc may be a good choice, especially if they can’t get enough of either mineral through their diet alone.
In general, people who are deficient in one because of their dietary habits may be more likely to be deficient in the other. Additionally, certain medical conditions may put you at risk of deficiency in both. This includes ulcerative colitis or other conditions that make it difficult for you to absorb minerals through the small intestine.
For some health conditions, like type 2 diabetes, having deficiencies in both minerals might worsen disease. As such, you may get an enhanced effect from taking both minerals instead of just one.
For example, a small study of both magnesium and zinc in people with type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease found the supplements positively affected insulin and blood sugar. The combination also positively affected cholesterol and inflammation, two factors that can influence heart disease risk. This may be especially important for people with diabetes since the population is at higher risk for heart disease.
Outside of the impact on diabetes, it’s difficult to draw sharp conclusions about the benefits of combining the two minerals. More research is needed.
How To Take a Combination of Zinc and Magnesium
Magnesium is available in pill form or as a powder or liquid. Zinc is typically sold as pills, but some people also take it as a nasal spray.
Magnesium is available in different forms, including magnesium citrate, magnesium oxide, magnesium L-threonate, and magnesium chloride. Similarly, you might purchase zinc as zinc citrate, zinc gluconate, or zinc oxide.
Consider taking them with food to help reduce potential stomach upset.
You might also want to consider taking them at different times. Zinc and magnesium may interfere with each other’s absorption at high doses. This is unlikely to be much of an issue at low doses, but as a precaution, you might choose to separate their intake.
You can buy over-the-counter supplements combining both magnesium and zinc, for convenience. These combination products may contain calcium or vitamin D in addition to the magnesium and zinc.
Magnesium and zinc are also often both included as part of standard multivitamins, though often at low doses.
Dosage
Researchers don’t know the ideal dosage of magnesium or zinc—either alone or in combination—for most people. It may differ based on factors like your age, medical conditions, or how deficient you are in the minerals.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to know from blood tests how deficient in magnesium or zinc you might be. Less severe deficiencies may not show up in blood tests.
What is known is that very high doses—about 142 mg a day—of either magnesium or zinc can interfere with your body's ability to absorb the other mineral. The high dose can also disrupt the balance of the other mineral. So make sure you are sticking to a reasonable dosage.
Zinc Dosage
For people 19 or older, the recommended daily allowance of zinc is 11 milligrams (mg) for men and 8 mg for women. The allowance increases to 11 mg during pregnancy and 12 mg during lactation.
Many over-the-counter supplements contain between 30-50 mg of zinc.
Magnesium Dosage
For adults aged 31 years or older, the recommended dietary allowance of magnesium is 420 mg for men and 320 mg for women. For adults aged 19-30, the amount is 400 mg for men and 310 mg for women. If you are pregnant, you should take 40 mg more. Other factors may also influence how much magnesium you need like stress or alcohol or caffeine use.
These amounts are for total intake, which includes the food you eat plus any supplements. Many over-the-counter supplements include around 250-300 mg of magnesium.
Is It Safe to Take Zinc and Magnesium Together?
For most people, it’s safe to take magnesium and zinc together, especially if you are using reasonable doses. But before you do, speak with a healthcare provider about the potential effect it could have with any other supplements or medications you may be taking.
Potential Drug Interactions
Drug interactions can affect how much magnesium or zinc is absorbed. Additionally, magnesium and zinc sometimes impact the effectiveness of some drugs or increase the risk of side effects.
Zinc might interact with the following:
The diuretic Midamor (amiloride)
The HIV drug Reyataz (atazanavir)
Antibiotics such as Keflex (cephalexin) or Sumycin (tetracycline chloride)
Zinc can also decrease absorption of copper and iron. And at high doses, iron can decrease zinc’s absorption.
Magnesium might interact with the following:
Certain antibiotics, such as Sumycin (tetracycline chloride), Garamycin (gentamicin), or Cipro (ciprofloxacin)
Drugs for osteoporosis, such as bisphosphonates like Fosamax (alendronate)
Some drugs for high blood pressure, such as calcium channel blockers like Norvasc (amlodipine)
High doses of vitamin D or calcium
You may still be able to take zinc and magnesium if you are using any of the above drugs or supplements, especially if you take them at different times. Your healthcare provider or pharmacist can let you know if interactions are potential issues for you.
What To Look For
A healthcare provider might prescribe a certain preparation of magnesium and zinc, but often people take these products over-the-counter.
Because vitamins, minerals, and other supplements aren’t regulated the same way as prescription drugs, it's best to choose a product that had some sort of third-party testing. Labels from the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) or the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) are often signs of high-quality supplements. These third-party groups test to make sure that all the ingredients listed are in the supplement and that those are the only ingredients included.
Also check the dosages in the products and be cautious of particularly high amounts.
Can You Take Too Much Zinc or Magnesium?
You could potentially take too much of one or both these minerals.
Zinc
Zinc can cause problems if you take it in large amounts. Doing so can lead to diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, fatigue, and damage to the nervous system. It can even be lethal if taken in extremely high amounts of more than 10 grams a day, which is equal to 10,000 mg a day.
Government recommendations are to take in no more than 40 mg zinc from your food and supplements. That's partly because taking zinc supplements of 50 mg or so for several weeks may significantly interfere with copper absorption. Copper deficiency can cause problems like anemia, reduced immune function, and nerve damage.
But If you have a clear zinc deficiency, your healthcare provider might temporarily prescribe higher doses. But in the long term, that amount is likely unsafe.
Magnesium
Magnesium can cause serious symptoms if taken in extremely high doses of more than 5,000 mg per day. These might include muscle weakness, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, and vomiting. If severe, magnesium toxicity may even lead to a problem with your heart rhythm, which can be fatal.
It's recommended that people 9 years or older take no more than 350 mg of magnesium supplements a day, though your total intake including foods could be higher.
Side Effects of Taking a Combination of Zinc and Magnesium
As far as experts know, combining magnesium and zinc doesn’t lead to additional side effects apart from the supplements' individual effects.
Magnesium is typically well-tolerated. Mild symptoms at lower doses could include diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. If you take larger amounts of magnesium, you might also experience stomach cramping.
Zinc is also usually well-tolerated. But even if taken at low-to-moderate doses, zinc may cause an upset stomach or nausea, especially if taken on an empty stomach. You might also not like the supplement's metallic taste.
There's been cases of people who have permanently lost their sense of smell after using a nasal spray zinc product.
A Quick Review
Zinc and magnesium are two minerals essential for many processes in the body. Some people don’t get enough of the two through their diet alone. If that's the case for you, your healthcare provider might recommend you take a supplement for both. Most people can safely take magnesium and zinc together. However, if one is taken at a high dose, the other supplement might not be absorbed as well. Before making magnesium and zinc part of your regimen, check with a healthcare provider about whether the combination is right for you.
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