Zinc is a mineral essential to our health, as the blog on zinc went into. What minerals are chelated or bound with when taken in supplemental form has a big effect upon their efficacy and effect on us. Zinc carnosine is zinc bound with L-carnosine, and in this form it has been found to be active against stomach ulcers, both by helping heal the stomach wall and increase the protective mucosal layer; it helps reduce the pain caused by H Pylori; it encourages the mucosa in the colon and seems to help prevent bone breakdown, so helps prevent osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and jawbone degeneration. It also seems it helps the liver recover from fatty liver disease and Hepatis C. Although zinc carnosine was discovered in the 1980s, much research is still in the early days. But the signs are good. ((Most of the following information is based on the book PDR for nutritional supplements, 2008 by Sheldon Saul Hendler))
I sell Zinc Carnosine in the form Poliquin GI Qwell which costs £43.50 for 60 tablets. At 2 a day, this lasts 30 days. The tablets are chewed 30 mins before a meal which coats the intestines to heal and protect them. Alas, Zinc Carnosine is expensive. GI Qwell is extremely effective since it is combined with Aloe Vera and Slippery Elm. As with all Poliquin supplements, they are expensive but extremely effective. So we can spend money on less effective forms and suffer longer or we pay up, look big and get better. Just a choice. To buy GI Qwell from me, contact me through this site. I post them out very fast.
Zinc carnosine heals the lining of the stomach.
It is common for people, particularly women to dislike red meat. All sorts of reasons are given – but the real reason is 
that they have difficulty digesting it. ((Difficulty digesting red meat is usually accompanied by a difficulty digesting fat as well. This is because the level of acidity in the stomach has to lower enough to stimulate the pancreas and liver to produce digestive enzymes for the digestion of fat and carbohydrates. Difficulty digesting fat will present itself by finding oily fish such as mackeral indigestible as well as supplemental fish oils for example.)) When the lining of the stomach is damaged by, for example, alcohol on an empty stomach, wheat or aspirin, it cannot produce a good quantity of HCl (hydrochloric acid) when we eat. HCl is vital to break down proteins, with red meats requiring more stomach acid than white meats or fish, which again require more stomach acid than a purely vegetarian diet. Frequently this dislike of red meat is the only sign of problems, but sometimes people will also complain of heartburn, sucking down the anti-acids with every meal. A better thing to do is take Zinc Carnosine in chewable form since this sticks to the damaged parts or lesions in the stomach wall. ((Furuta S, Toyama S, Miwa M, et al. Residence time of polaprezinc (Zinc L-carnosine complex) in the rat stomach and adhesiveness to ulcerous sites. Jpn J Pharmacol. 1995; 67:271-278. )) The carnosine has to be in L form and not D carnosine, which has been found to be ineffective.
The stomach should be lined with a thick wall of mucus. Stress drastically reduces this mucosal layer, with the body’s assumption that we will be running for our lives. With the reduction of mucus, the stomach cannot produce a great deal of HCl or it will digest itself. So if we eat bread, take an aspirin or drink on a stressed, empty stomach, the lack of protective layer leaves the stomach open to damage. These substances are all hard on the gut lining. Zinc carnosine lines the stomach wall where it works by several ways: it is a strong anti-oxidant itself and also enables the stomach to produce its own special anti-oxidants. It sticks to the lesions in the stomach wall more strongly than just zinc or just L carnosine, enabling healing by stimulating cellular proliferation. It stimulates the mucus that protects the stomach and stabilises the membranes of the cell walls of the stomach ((Hiraishi H, Sasai T, Oinuma T, Shimada, Sugaya, Terano. Polaprezinc protects gastric mucosal cslls from noxious agents through anti-oxidant properties in vitro. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Vol 13 Issue 2 p 261-369 Feb 1999)). It inhibits premature cell death and has a good anti-inflammatory action. So it can be seen that zinc carnosine heals the stomach lining by several mechanisms. After a couple of months of high quality supplementation, then supplemental HCl can be introduced and we are back on the road to being able to digest our food properly – and this means getting the nutrition out of it. Bizarrely poor digestion leads to weight gain as the body seeks to get more nutrition in, so leads us to over eating, especially of easily digested foods such as sandwiches, biscuits and crisps.
Zinc carnosine and H Pylori.
If H Pylori has been detected, Zinc carnosine helps here too. H Pylori generates ammonia which reacts with hypochlorous acid ((Hypochlorous acid is a less acidic version of hydrochloric acid. It and monochloramine are forms of bleach.)) to produce monochloramine, which is toxic and damages the stomach mucosals cells by damaging the DNA. Zinc Carnosine has a scavenging action against monochloramine, so reduces the damage. It has also been found that taking zinc carnosine along with the standard treatment against H Pylori: 2 antibiotics plus a proton pump inhibitor, improves the outcome of the regimen. And, just as with the stomach damaged by stress and diet, zinc carnosine sticks to the lesions in the stomach wall caused by H Pylori and promotes healing in the same way.
Zinc carnosine and IBS
Zinc carnosine also attaches itself to damaged areas in the colon, again promoting cell proliferation, reducing inflammation and improving the mucosal lining. ((Mahmood A, FitzGerald AJ, Marchbank T, et al. Zinc carnosine, a health food supplement that stabilizes small bowel integrity and stimulates gut repair processes. Gut. 2007;56(2):168-175))
Bones and zinc carnosine.
Bones constantly break down and regenerate, with things called osteoclasts breaking them down and osteoblasts generating new bone. Research is showing that zinc carnosine prevents bone breakdown by acting on the parathyroid hormone stimulated osteoclast cell formation. ((As part of the normal aging process, osteoblast formation slows in both men and women – but women suffer from osteoporosis more than men because we have smaller bones and tend to live longer. Surprisingly not that much is known about the causes of osteoporosis – the drop in sex hormones as we age is part of the picture, but there is more to it than just that)) So this helps prevent osteoporosis and also helps rheumatoid arthritis. By the same mechanism it also helps regenerate the jaw bone if we have periodontal disease. ((Kishi S, Segawa Y, Yamaguchi M. Histomorphological confirmation of the preventive effect of beta-alanyl-L-histidinato zinc on bone loss in ovariectomized rats. Biol Pharm Bull. 1994;17(6):86-865))
Zinc carnosine and the liver.
In the blog on choline, I mentioned that good levels of dietary choline were necessary to prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which has the medical name NASH ((NASH – non-alcoholic steohepatitis)). Somewhat surprisingly, a glass of wine a day reduces NASH risk by half. Taking zinc carnosine also helps NASH by reducing inflammation and free radical damage to the fat in the liver cells.
Chronic hepatitis C is also helped by zinc carnosine’s antioxidant activity. Also the liver can be subject to a build up of iron in males and post-menopausal women and so it has been found that zinc carnosine helps reduce these levels. However, the scientists doing the research don’t really know the mechanism of the good effect of zinc carnosine upon a hepatitis C infected liver- they just find it works.
In conclusion.
Zinc carnosine is a good friend to the intestines generally, to the bones and to the liver. It works well with other healing regimens, making them work better and faster. It is very well tolerated and the chewable version tastes a bit like a Rennies. It has a healing action rather than a suppressing action and this is always the best.
Should other zinc consumption stop when taking this product? I am very low in zinc per a zinc tally test and am taking 69 mg per day of liquid zinc sulfate.
If you are taking the Zinc Tally, then there is no need to stop taking it whilst taking Zinc Carnosine. When the Zinc Tally tastes awful, then you know that your zinc levels have recovered. As stated in the blog, Zinc Carnosine coats the villi in the stomach, so helps them heal and so has a different action to a supplement aimed at raising overall zinc levels.
Claire,
Thank you for your post. Could you be as kind as to clarify: should I take Zinc Carnosine with or without food? It is not stated on the label, just that I should take it twice a day.
Also, I have been using Swanson brand, because it is so much cheaper than the others (under $15). My preferred brands are Multigenics and Pure encapsulations – but those cost almost $50. Do you know if there is any reason to go with the more expensive brand?
Thank you very much in advance, Natalya
Hi, Natalya. Zinc carnosine should be chewed half an hour before eating so it gets a chance to line the villi. Generally cheaper supplements are not worth the money. Look at the quantities of zinc in the cheap brand. It will be cheap for a reason. Multigenics and Pure Encapsulations are good brands, so worth the money. The Poliquin brand that I sell contains 17mg zinc and 75 mg zinc carnosine, along with microcrystalline cellulose, stearic acid and silica. That too retails at $48.50 in the States. Not cheap, but zinc carnosine is an excellent product for healing the guts, so its good to persevere with the expense for a few months, then see if you can tolerate HCl in your new, improved tummy.
Hi Clare,
I’m struggling to find multigenics, pure encapsulation or poliquin brands in UK.. would i get the same results if i’d get a cheaper brand, but will take 4capsules a day instead? Each capsule has 8mg of zinc, 29.5 L-carnosine and 37.5mg of zinc and L-carnoside complex?
Regards Simona
Hi, Simona. I sell Poliquin brand supplements, so you can contact me through this website for more details. Zinc carnosine is not a cheap product, no matter who is selling it. If it is cheap, then the ingredients are either not as good or it is much weaker, so you have to take more and it will therefore still be an expensive supplement. What price good health?
Could the brand some of you are referring to be METAgenics? It is an excellent brand.
My question is does it matter which brand we get if we want to chew the tablets? I’ve been swallowing my Metagenics Zinlori 75 whole, but I’m going to start chewing it. I also stopped my other zinc supplement, but it sounds like I should start it again. So zinc carnosine is for healing the gut but won’t help to raise zinc levels on its own? I just want to clarify to be sure I’m understanding.
Thanks for the article!
The brand I’m referring to is the Poliquin brand. Available from me.
Good to chew the zinc carnosine – grind it up in the mouth into as much of a paste as possible, so it can more easily coat the gut lining. I would also take a high quality zinc supplement too. Zinc carnosine will have some action in improving zinc levels, but a decent zinc chelation such as zinc aspartate and orotate will do a better job. We are all very short of zinc these days.
I have a peptic ulcer and acid reflux. Bin taking anti acids for years with little results.My question is should i stop taking the anti acids, and just take the zinc carnosine? When should i take them and how many a day.How can i order your product?
Hi, Jeanne. Anti-acids won’t help poor digestion. In the long term, they can only make it worse. You could read the book: Why Stomach Acid Is Good For You by Jonathan V Wright. You can try cutting out the foods that disagree with you, first culprits being gluten and dairy. It is also important to be relaxed when you eat (goodness, I feel like such a hypocrite writing this. I need tying down to my chair when I eat!) and vital to chew your food very well indeed. Safer to add are digestive enzymes. You could also try drinking a little bitters before a meal. I do stock Zinc Carnosine, now called GI Qwell; it costs £42.16p plus postage. Out of stock at the moment, but if you are still interested, let me know. Clare.
Will chewing zinc carnosine before a meal affect absorption of supplements I take with meals? Thanks very much.
i can’t find zinc L carnosine at the health food store.
It is very unlikely that you will find Zinc Carnosine in your health food store. But you can find it on line. The Poliquin brand is called GI Qwell. It is unlikely that you’ll find pure zinc carnosine; usually it is combined with other gut health restoring ingredients. So the name could be anything! Poliquin used to do pure Zince carnosine, but not any more, sadly. I do stock GI Qwell, but I think you live in the States. There are many Poliquin Biosignature practitioners in the states who can supply it.
Dear Clare ,
I have tried zinc carnosine tablets from polliquin. Unfortunately , the only capsules they have are the ones mixed with aloe vera. It made my ulcer worse and it is bleeding now. I wanted to try the pure zinc carnosine but they dont have it . I have also tried metagenics for two months , but I havent seen any improvement. What do you recommend that I try now ?
Oh dear, you are in a bit of a mess. It is indeed frustrating that Poliquin have dropped the pure zinc carnosine.
I presume you have cut foods that irritate your gut out of your diet?
Have you taken a prolonged course of high quality probiotics? If so, have you tried L glutamine?
Have you tried adding gelatin to your food or to a hot drink? That can help soothe things and improve how the guts handle food.
Dear Clare ,
Thank you for your reply. I am willing to try all the remedies you have mentioned, although , I have a concern about L glutamine . I have read that after it is digested it changes into a substance like MSG in the body. Do you think I should still try it ?
where can i get ur product Gi quell?thank you
You can buy GI Qwell from me – but I am in the UK. If you are in the States, you’ll be able to source it over there. If you are in the UK, contact me on fun@clareharding.com and I’ll give you further details.
Hi…I am really interested in zinc carnosine…I have tried antacids but they don’t really work for me 😔 I’ve been anxious and depressed about it and I really want to give zinc carnosine a try plus I am asthmatic. I just bought zinc carnosine from the brand integrative therapeutics. Zinc 16 mg and carnosine 75 mg do you know if this a good brand. Please help! I would really apreciated. Do I suppose to chew them?
Hi Jessica. It’s a good idea to try Zinc-carnosine – much better for you than antacids since they merely mask the problem rather than try to cure it. I don’t know if Integrative Therapeutics is a good brand, but since you now have a bottle, then try it and see. Polquin also sell a Zinc Carnosine product called GI Qwell, which contains zinc carnosine. slippery elm and aloe vera, so it’s a cocktail of stuff that helps calm down and cure sore stomachs. If your product doesn’t work so well, you could try the Poliquin brand, which is very reliable indeed.
As to whether to chew them or not, you’ll have to look on the bottle for instructions, or, if none, contact Integrative Therapeutics themselves for guidance. The Poliquin brand you used to chew, but now you swallow them whole.
Gut problems stem from the Insular lobe of the brain, so anything you can do to calm that down will help troubled guts. This means stuff like warming the tummy, wearing dark glasses and/or ear plugs. Also eat slowly and chew your food extremely well: good food well chewed usually tastes better and better, cheap processed food gets more and more ghastly.
Hope this helps.
I take 2 x 17mg of zinc carnosine per day. I am soon to have a CT scan with contrast to look at the gut/stomach/gallbladder/abdomen. Will the zinc carnosine be compatible with the iodine the inject?
To be honest, I would check this out with your doctor. If that is not possible, I would cut out the zinc Carnosine for a fortnight before so it fully clears the system. Good luck.
Kidney stones on the poles.
Left toenail turning white. Artery disease. I need a liver cleanse. Is it okay to get Repairvite for gut repair?
$83.00 is expensive.
Dearie me. I hope you are drinking plenty of water and keeping up your electrolytes. Ideally you also need to work on the Insular lobe of the brain, along with the amygdala and limbic system to reduce long held stress. Humming is a place to start. Apart from that Repairvite is expensive. Generally, good supplements are expensive, but this one I’m not so sure about. You could try it and see. One problem with it maybe the lactase. Can you tolerate dairy? Whilst lactase helps digest dairy, when I was extremely dairy intolerant, I could not tolerate lactase. Personally, I would buy Forever Living Aloe Vera gel and take high quality probiotics, high quality digestive enzymes and drink kefir everyday – if dairy is a problem there are kefirs made with other bases. Eventually I would take L Glutamine, but not at first since it feeds the bad bacteria too. I would be extremely careful about liver detoxification. You must support the second stage liver detoxification; many detox diets speed up the first stage only, which ultimately will make things worse. Good luck.
Hi. Stumbled (:)) on your site. So after months of waking with nausea and a loss of appetite, and having kicked the first scheduled top-and-tail gastro- and colonoscopy into touch after reading an article on ‘unnecessary procedures’, I poked around in my gut and found some tender areas. Got a second referral and did the procedure. Upshot: 0.2cm duodenal ulcer and three sessile polyps removed. Two weeks prior, devastated by a contrast MRI and rendered gaga to the point of being unable to speak properly or concentrate to type. Gadolinium Deposition Disease! There’s a great victim support site so got some help with that. I used to regularly drink diluted ACV and bicarb and fear I may have brought this upon myself. According to Dr. Berg, common causes of idiopathic ulcer (no h. pylori in my case) are folate deficiency and hypercalcemia (I had been taking Vit D (no K with it) to boost my immunity due to the virus situation). Terminated from my last job with TUI, I’m trying to cope on UC and am currently taking Biosuperfood to chelate the gadolinium and Megasporebiotic to repopulate my microbiome after the procedure’s decimation of it with Moviprep. My question is, since the chewable Zinc Carnosine is no longer around, would I be just as well off taking chewable DGL? I sip a bit of Aloe Vera juice in the morning first thing but have some doubts as to whether it’s doing more harm than good (it tastes of the plastic bottle). Due to my straitened living conditions, I cannot make cabbage juice or cook healthy food. Any advice would be appreciated. I think I made another error too: I was drinking Sauerkraut juice and Berg says to avoid pickles (it was mainly for the prebiotic effect). Talk about a minefield! Thanks and best to you. PS Some bod on Earthclinic recommends 1/2 teaspoon bicard in half a glass of water four times a day. Thoughts?
Dearie, dearie me! Indeed, what a minefield of conflicting advice. And I’m not going to enter into that. I have been busy studying, and I seriously think stimulating your vagus nerve will help. In this sea of advice, I realise this seems just as daft. however, the vagus nerve sends information up to the insular lobe of the brain, and this lobe regulates everything going on inside us – and you have loads of stuff going on in your guts! How to stimulate it: buy a Z vibe from Tinknstink, take the blue tip off, turn the Z vibe on, and stick the blunt end into the cymba concha of the ear – google it. This is one place where the vagus nerve surfaces to skin level. Do this every single day once or twice for 2 – 5 minutes. As you do it, see if you can belly breathe in the most relaxed possible way. If in doubt, go to google scholar and search rhematoid arthritis and vibrotactile device and you’ll find a recent piece of research. There is other research: they’ve been using electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve for a while now for all sorts of conditions, and that is expensive and you have to apply the stimulation for hours each day. Buzzing your earhole is far, far, far cheaper and much much much quicker for the same or better results. Not the answer you were expecting, but,hey, let’s move with the times! Good luck.
Clare, thank you so much for replying although I only discovered you had by chance when I googled ‘0.2cm duodenal ulcer’ and found my original question: should I have received an email? I didn’t. No matter, thank you so very much! May I probe a little? I found the Z Vibe page: https://www.tinknstink.co.uk/ark-s-z-vibe-vibrating-oral-motor-tool.html. Just to be clear, you mean the circular blue end, right? Not the oblong? I understand that cold showers also stimulate the vagus nerve, a la Wim Hof: in what ways is the Z Vibe superior (other than not having to get drenched in cold water, obviously?) Plus, I don’t think I have rheumatoid arthritis other than a toe on my left foot which sometimes behaves oddly, sort of freezes up. But if I understand you correctly, you’re advocating it for my gut issues, right? I like it and am going to give it a go: it’s very Star Trek: http://www.sci-news.com/medicine/vibrotactile-device-rheumatoid-arthritis-symptoms-07112.html (was this the paper?). Thanks again. Appreciate you.
Hi David,
Yes you are right with the Z vibe tool. And yes, take the blue end off leaving you with the body only. You can leave the blue end on, but without it the buzz is a bit more powerful. I am advocating it for your gut issues because of the direct vagal nerve stimulation. Correct, it does help arthritis, but it helps by stimulating the vagus nerve. Dr Cobb – Mr Z-Health – has suspected that vibration on the cymba concha is every bit as good as electrical stimulation, but much easier to apply. There have been 2 papers investigating this, and indeed, vibration is actually better since it only need be applied for minutes rather than hours. You can buy an electrical device to attach to the ear, but it costs hundreds of pounds, is awkward to use (I’ve tried it!) and has to be left there for hours. The z vibe is just so much better. Dr Cobb’s genius is to read research papers and know how to apply that knowledge. So what I’m telling you is way, way, way ahead of its time.
If you want to know more about Z health then look on their site: https://zhealtheducation.com There is a free 6 hour introduction course.
To research more, you need to look up the guts/vagus nerve/Insular lobe.
Yes, cold showers terrific vagal stim. Wild water swimming is also. If you like them, do that too. You need to stimulate the heck out of that vagal nerve. Leave no stone unturned – or no turd unstoned….
It gets to the root of the problem rather than fiddling about on the surface… and as things improve, so will other stuff. And why do I know that?
Good luck. Perserverance is King!
Clare, thank you once again for all the helpful info, tips and clarification. I will do a deeper dive into those links you provided. After the vac, will get in touch with Tinknstink (their contact form for my replacement battery price question is glitched). You deserve a wider audience and I pray you get it – people need your helpful insight. GBY.
Hi again. Well, after repeated failed attempts, I finally spoke to someone at Tinknstink today. My question was regarding the battery life and replacement costs but we got into my purpose for using it and the helpful lady explained that she had only ever once before heard the vagus nerve stim application. But she went on to explain that if you take the top off it no longer works. So that was that. Thought I should let you know. Best to you, David.
Hello, I’m looking forward a zinc/carnosine liquid as I have swallowing problems. Is there such a thing? I’ve looked but can’t find anything.
Thank you
Wanda
Hi Wanda, Have you searched online for this product? I just found Rezcue Zinc Carnosine and L Glutamine sold by Nine life. It comes in powder form. And costs £50.40. Which sounds about right. Zinc carnosine is expensive.
Whilst I don’t know why you have swallowing problems, have you tried rehabilitating the problem. If the reason is that you find pill swallowing difficult, I recommend rehabilitation from the bottom of my heart. Big things come from little things and swallowing is about as primal as it gets. You could start rehab with pushing your tongue up into the roof of the mouth. If you have a small sweetie to hand, then put that on the top of the tongue and press that up into the roof. Place a hand lightly around your windpipe. As you push the tongue upwards, feel/encourage the windpipe to move upwards with the tongue.
If the problem is lack of spit, then try smiling with all your facial muscles and squeeeeeeze your eyes tight shut. This makes tears and spit.
Head position also vital.
Good luck.