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Comment by opportune | Hacker News Reader

The first author has a publication called "zinc lozenges as a cure for the common cold" here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19906491 and given that the author has his own "research institute" I'm highly skeptical of this guy's ability to do science. Seems like some kind of crackpot

I mean seriously look at this website: https://m.george-eby-research.com/app/welcome/5310242/36/

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Wow, that website has a lot of red flags. The second line alone, "this is a multi-gigabit sized site," is enough to make me doubt the info on that page. This NYT article from 1995 says he is a "city planner turned self-educated pharmacologist" so I'd be surprised if any of his "research" was properly done or reached accurate conclusions

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/29/business/patents-751395.h...

Medical view: Magnesium is one of the most ordered tests in the hospital setting. Definitely in top 10 most places, probably top 5. Almost certainly over ordered. We have tons of data from which to draw conclusions. Not that we can assume that just because the data is there it has already been studied, but if there was a true signal there it would be very easy to study and I’d be surprised if it hadn’t been.

Very few otherwise healthy people have low magnesium levels. The reasons are usually related to severe kidney dysfunction, severe malnutrition, certain blood cancers/blood disorders, alcohol abuse (also because of malnutrition), and being on diuretics.

I was under the impression that it was really hard to detect magnesium deficiency in bloodwork, because most of it is either supposed to be in our bones or cells, so a blood test doesn't paint a complete picture of total Mg stores.

He may be a crackpot, and this book is not a well-written summary of the literature, but the idea of magnesium levels influencing depression is not a crackpot idea.

Magnesium is a cofactor for the enzymes that convert tryptophan into serotonin. Most of the body's serotonin is synthesized in the gut, where it helps control the muscles that move the bowels. (I assume this is why magnesium salts act as laxatives).

Magnesium is also implicated in other serotonin related disorders (e.g. Migraine).

Even broken clocks are right twice a day.

> I assume this is why magnesium salts act as laxatives

This is a side issue, but apparently it's a different reason.

From https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfession... : "The diarrhea and laxative effects of magnesium salts are due to the osmotic activity of unabsorbed salts in the intestine and colon and the stimulation of gastric motility."

Sounds like it's only part of the reason, if I'm correctly parsing "... and the stimulation of gastric motility" as a second mechanism of action.

Oh, good point. I was reading it as if it said "the resulting stimulation", but what you're saying makes more sense.

FYI, The title of his paper is "Zinc lozenges as cure for the common cold – A review and hypothesis". I haven't read it, but the title seems reasonable.

In the publicly visible abstract it says:

" Zinc lozenges slowly dissolving in the mouth over a 20-30 min period releasing adequate iZn (18 mg) used each 2h are hypothesized to shorten common colds by 6-7 days, which is a cure for the common cold."

There is plenty of evidence that zinc has effects on the progress of rhinoviral infections. I don't know of any detailed determination why, but it seems tied up with preferential activation of certain immune system components. People who respond well to zinc treatments often report immediate dizziness after remarkably small doses, when taken as cold symptoms are emerging.

They used to sell a gel that, it turned out, caused permanent loss to sense of smell if snorted (against pkg instructions, but who read those?). Now you find lozenges, which seem to work about as well.

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