Do You Have a Zinc Deficiency?

Here’s a fun way to test for a zinc deficiency, which is common in many people, especially those with compromised immune systems and/or picky eaters: Do a zinc challenge. It’s very easy to do. Buy some Zinc Challenge, put a little in a cup, swish it in your mouth, then spit it out. It will taste different depending on your zinc status.

People with a zinc deficiency commonly have either a poor sense or a hyper-sensitive sense of taste and smell, and they won’t be able to taste the zinc sulfate monohydrate that’s in Zinc Challenge. Those with sufficient zinc will notice that it tastes like old eggs and will want to spit it out immediately.  In my experience, most people think it tastes like water.

Be sure not to tell anyone ahead of time (especially kids) what kind of tastes to expect!

About Maria Rickert Hong CHHC

Maria Rickert Hong is a Co-Founder of, and the Education and Media Director for, Epidemic Answers, the 501(c)3 sponsoring non-profit of The Documenting Hope Project.

She is a former sell-side Wall Street equity research analyst who covered the oil services sector at Salomon Smith Barney and Lehman Brothers under Institutional Investor #1 ranked analysts. Later, she covered the gaming, lodging & leisure sector at Jefferies & Co. and Calyon Securities. She quit working on Wall Street when her first son was born.

Prior to working on Wall Street, she was a marketing specialist for Halliburton in New Orleans, where she also received her MBA in Finance & Strategy from Tulane University.

She is the author of the bestselling book Almost Autism: Recovering Children from Sensory Processing Disorder and the co-author of Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis. Maria is also a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. Her work can be found on EpidemicAnswers.org, DocumentingHope.com, Healing.DocumentingHope.com, Conference.DocumentingHope.com and MariaRickertHong.com

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