Pharmacist Shares Insight on Zinc Interactions

Insight from Associate Professor of Clinical Specialties Maria Pino, Ph.D., is featured in a Health article about supplements and medications that can interact with zinc. Pino, a licensed New York State pharmacist, details zinc’s possible interactions with antibiotics, noting that the mineral can interfere with quinolone antibiotics (like Cipro), which are used to treat a wide range of bacterial infections, including urinary tract infections. The same is true for tetracyclines, a class of antibiotics commonly prescribed to treat acne and other infections.

“Zinc would decrease the efficacy of the antibiotic,” Pino said. “It wouldn’t cause true harm, but it would not make the drug effective, and that could lead to [patients] not getting better.”

She also notes that these interactions are a two-way street, with antibiotics potentially impairing the body’s ability to absorb zinc, too.