Lois wrote:

> My low white cell count didn't come up on 25mg. zinc, but it did with
> >50mg.
>

William wrote:

> WARNING!
> Zinc is described as a copper antagonist. Taking zinc as you write for long enough results in heart disease due to
> copper deficiency/mineral deficiency.
> Don't do it!
> I did.
>
Thanks for the warning, William.  For those who supplement without first
researching, it's good to mention that all nutrients interact in some
way with each other.  It's never wise to supplement long-term with any
one nutrient without understanding the balancing factors (as least as
much as is known to date) that go along with it.

I complement my zinc supplementation with approximately the recommended
10:1 zinc/copper ratio, and keep an eye on periodic test results.  (I
MUST take these and nutrients and, many others to balance, because of
reduced absorptive surfaces at critical areas along my GI tract.)

Another good example of this is vitamin C, that so many here have
already mentioned.  C decreases the absorption of copper also but,
luckily for the females, enhances iron absorption.

Many prescription drugs that people take long-term interfere with
nutrient absorption.

There has been much discussion in paleo info on calcium/magnesium
ratios.

The B vitamins all need each other and vitamin C to work properly.

The list goes on and on.

Any of us with health problems will have different needs, depending on
many factors such as what the health problem is, our age, sex, diet,
blah, blah, blah.  Supplementation is experimental on all of us who have
chosen this way rather than trusting our lives blindly to conventional
practitioners, of whom the vast majority are merely drug pushers.
(Don't bash me here--there are some good ones out there too.)  So we
have to look after ourselves, just like our injured cave-people
ancestors did with the best knowledge they had at the time.

I will always emphasize that, for me at least, diet is first and
foremost the foundation of one's health care.  Supplementation is just
that:  supplementation.  Some of us benefit from it, others don't.  Just
like the cave-guy who broke a limb years ago might benefit from a
periodic poultice to relieve pain at the site of the old wound, the one
who was never injured would not benefit from such treatment.

 I don't think our survival instinct is any less strong than those of
paleo times--we do what we gotta do to carry on--but our methods of
survival are certainly quite different!  Let's hope we use our heads
before going out and stalking the wily Vitamin Shoppe.

Lois