10 - 15mg is barely covering the basic 12mg required for a veg eater from the sources I've read. Having said that, your body can adjust to a degree. As said, I'm bringing in about 12mg extra a day which bring the zinc level up to match my iron intake. I typically find zinc is about half to two thirds the level of iron in most whole foods. Andrew Perlot did some videos on zinc. One of them suggested that tested serum zinc levels aren't a good reflection of the status of zinc in the cells.march83 wrote:My serum zinc levels were OK, but I've done some tracking in chronometer and I'm typically only getting 10-15mg of dietary zinc which seem OK by the RDIs, but from what I understand my absorption may be compromised by the phytates (lots of beans) and tannins (lots of tea and coffee) I'm eating. Additionally, my requirements may be amplified due to pretty significant sweat losses.
Safe approach since one can get too much zinc. I take mine before a meal to increase absorption so far.march83 wrote:So, taking the simplest approach, I'm currently supplementing zinc with meals and I'll see what happens at the next round of blood tests.
Surprising statement since she also said she was a vegetarian. I would have thought she would have come across someone with a similar diet before. But maybe not. Maybe they don't get the symptoms and I did because I was a late convert.march83 wrote:What an incredible statement from your specialist...Nobody wrote:My previous specialist said diet didn't make any difference. Well so far I've proven it does in my case.
According to my spreadsheet, my diet's average iron density is only 0.6mg/100g. Peas are the only food I eat lately with more than 1mg/100g of iron. Adding some zinc for competition and you can see why I'm winning the iron absorption game.