From gumminvestors.com - the answer to the lame "fraudulent" homeopathy argument.
Q. Isn't Zicam espousing homeopathy and isn't homeopathy medical quackery?
A. This homeopathic "issue" is often brought up by people who seek to discredit Zicam without understanding what it is. Homeopathy is not the issue here. Although homeopathy itself is based on the use of infinitesimal amounts of material to treat illnesses and in many cases uses such dilute amounts of materials that they are unlikely to have any effect, Zicam is a 2% solution of Zinc Gluconate. In other words, it has measurable amounts of the substance. They key issue here is that for LABELING PURPOSES, 2% Zinc Gluconate, no matter how it is delivered, is not considered a "drug" by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), because it is a relatively harmless material. This is the same material in Quigley's cold-eeze, but in Zicam it is delivered to the site of action and is held in place by the Zinullose (tm) matrix - a type of bioadhesive that keeps the zinc ions close to the epithelial cells where the viruses are trying to attach. Zicam mimics the nasal ICAM and works several ways, one of which is to bind the rhinovirus so that it does not attach to the nasal ICAM. Since Zicam does not need to travel to the site of infection via the blood, it can be supplied at a low, but measurable dose. As a matter of fact, that is why Zicam is without all the side effects one associates with zinc lozenges. Irrespective of how one judges the efficacy of cold-eeze, the fact is that GumTech did not come up with the "homeopathic" labeling policy and is not the first company to issue a product under those guidelines. To review, while some people call the specific product, Zicam, "homeopathy", because there are negative connotations of homeopathic practice (since many homeopathic materials contain negligible amounts of substances and, therefore, have questionable efficacy at best), Zicam is a 2% solution of Zinc Gluconate in a gel matrix. It is a 33 millimolar solution. It is not a negligible amount. The reason for the label as "homeopathic" relates only to the labeling policies of our government regulatory agency, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
Q. How much zinc is in Zicam?
A. Here is a post from the Silicon Investor "GUMM...Eliminate the common cold" thread. To: Dan Zimmermann (1166 ) From: Howard D. Epstein, M.D. Saturday, Oct 23 1999 2:53PM ET Reply # of 1255 While we are providing calculations, I decided to calculate the amount of zinc in Zicam(tm) lest there be any question about the stupid irrelevant homeopathic BS argument. Here are my numbers: Calculation for zinc exposure from Zicam. Although the label says 120 metered doses, I assume 2 nostrils per episode, so I double their metered amount to make an actual patient dose, then figured 5 sprays in each nostril (5 doses) per day. Zn = 65 g/mole, has 2+ charge as ion The chemical formula for Zinc Gluconate would be Zn (C6 H11 07)2. I do not know how to type subscripts here. The mw of Zn Gluconate would be 455 g/mole. Gluconate has 1- charge as ion so there are 2 gluconates in each mole of zinc gluconate. So molecular weight of Zn Gluconate is 65+195+195 =455 grams/mole 455 grams/mole (1000mg/gram)(1 mole/1000millimoles)=455mg per millimole of Zn Gluconate. Of this, 65 mg will be ionic zinc. Zicam (tm) is a 2% solution, about 0.033 mmole/ml. (65mg/millimole)(.033millimoles/milliliter) (0.125ml/nostril)(2 nostrils/dose)=0.536mg per dose. 5 doses per day will be 2.68 mg applied total per patient per day. By the way, the RDA for Zinc is 15 mg according to the multivitamin bottle in front of me, so even if you take an extra dose and assume 100% absorption, you are at 1/5 of the RDA. Even assuming a 100% error you can take home two messages from this: 1. There is real zinc in Zicam(tm), not an infinitesimal amount. 2. It is not enough zinc so as to be concerned with excess zinc absorption, even if you take 2 or 3 times the recommended amount. These two statements do not contradict each other.
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