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Zinc

In the body: Too much zinc, over weeks, can lower the body’s copper.

The one to watch: Oysters, canned. About 44 g, eaten alone, reaches the daily limit. Also Eastern oysters, raw, at about 100 g on the same count.

Too much of a nutrient. For a food measured against it: the grams that reach the upper intake level, eaten every day.

All hazards

The limit

  • The agency’s figure40 mg/day
  • Basisupper intake level (UL): the most to take in every day
    upper intake level (UL) for adults 19 years and older, all sources (Health Canada DRI table); the critical effect and the EFSA UL (reported 25 mg/day) were not opened this session
  • Average adult intake No adult mean intake is recorded.
  • Applies toall sources (food, water, supplements)
  • Source Health Canada, dietary reference intakes

Reviewed foods that carry it

2 reviewed foods carry it, 2 of them rated by dose.

Grams to the limit

Grams of each food that reach the limit in its window, for a 70 kg adult. Fewest first: those are the foods to watch.

  1. Oysters, canned

    Go easy: can push past the limit for a 55 g serving

    44g
    reaches the limit in a day
    Counted from zero: this food eaten alone.
    50 mg per 55 g serving

    US food database (USDA SR Legacy) · grade C

    How it’s rated

    May exceed, on USDA's listing: Health Canada's tolerable upper intake level (UL) for zinc in adults is 40 mg a day from all sources. Eaten alone, about 44 g of canned oysters in one day on USDA's listing would reach it; 213 g on the CFIA Pacific sample and 632 g on the unspecified sample. A 55 g serving carries 50 mg on USDA's value (125% of the UL) and 10 mg on CFIA's. The three sources span a 14-fold range, which is the finding; the UL is a ceiling for long-term daily intake.

    Intake: 55 g canned (HC TRA I.4), one serving a day · Level in the food: 90.95 mg/100 g (listed value)

  2. Eastern oysters, raw

    Go easy: can push past the limit for a 125 g serving

    100g
    reaches the limit in a day
    Counted from zero: this food eaten alone.
    49.1 mg per 125 g serving

    US food database (USDA SR Legacy) · grade C

    This amount varies a lot from one batch to the next: the figures we hold for this food differ twofold or more. Every figure on this site uses the same one, the food’s listed value.

    How it’s rated

    May exceed: Health Canada's tolerable upper intake level (UL) for zinc in adults is 40 mg a day from all sources together. One 125 g serving of raw eastern oysters carries 49.1 mg on the USDA listing, 123% of the UL, and about 102 g in one day, eaten alone, would reach it. Zinc varies a lot between harvests: CFIA's inspection results averaged 314.6 µg/g, 39.3 mg a serving. The UL is a ceiling for long-term daily intake, so the verdict is about habitual daily oyster eating, not an occasional dozen. EFSA's own UL for adults is lower (reported as 25 mg a day).

    Intake: 125 g raw (HC TRA I.3), one serving a day · Level in the food: 39.3 mg/100 g (listed value)

Sources