Which zinc brands are third-party tested?
Our picks, by labeled strength, with a link to buy them: see where to buy. A strength with nothing certified at it has no pick, and is not listed there.
4 of the 26 zinc products we track have their exact package named by a certifier. Another 1 comes from a product line a certifier lists, but at a package size the certificate does not name. 20 appear in no database we searched. One matches a listing that may cover it, and whether it does is not settled either way, so it is listed separately below rather than counted as absent.
A certifier lists a specific package against each certificate. A brand can sell the same formula in several sizes, or several flavors, and have one of them listed, so “this brand is NSF certified” can be true while the tub in your hand is not the tub NSF tested. The middle group below is that gap.
The salt is part of the package here: a brand's picolinate can be named by a certificate while its citrate, from the same catalog, has no listing at all. Each row names the salt its own panel prints.
Certifier names this exact package, 4
The strongest evidence available here. For NSF, the listing names the package size sold; it was opened, its package text recorded, and its ID is on the product page. For USP, which names products rather than packages, the product is in USP's directory and the USP Verified Mark is on this package's own label, and both are on the product page.
| Product | Type | Per 15 mg | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature Made Zinc 30 mg (100 tablets) | Gluconate | $0.029 | USP Verified, product in directory, mark on label |
| BulkSupplements.com Zinc Picolinate Softgels 11 mg (240 count) | Picolinate | $0.125 | 1822457 |
| Thorne Zinc Picolinate 30 mg, NSF Certified for Sport (60 capsules) | Picolinate | $0.192 | 1211643 |
| Momentous Zinc (60 capsules) | Picolinate | $0.333 | 1612942 |
Listed, but not at this size, 1
The brand and product appear in the database at a different package size. Not a failure, and not a confirmation either.
| Product | Type | Per 15 mg | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorne Zinc Picolinate 30 mg (180 capsules) | Picolinate | $0.114 | 1211643 |
Searched, and not found, 20
Not listed by NSF Certified for Sport when we read its full directory. These programs certify what a company submits to them, so a product can be absent from the database simply because it was never entered, which is not a finding against it.
Not settled either way, 1
A certifier's list holds an entry that may cover these, and the entry does not say whether it does. Neither confirmed nor absent; each product page has the detail.
| Product | Type | Per 15 mg | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorne Zinc Picolinate 30 mg (60 capsules) | Picolinate | $0.167 | Unknown |
NSF Certified for Sport, the Informed programs' published product lists, the IFOS directory and USP's directory are each read in full, and each product page names the day. A product missing from this page has not failed a check. It has not had one.
Where to buy: the pick for each type
The pick is the cheapest certified product, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, with no adverse finding on record, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving; per delivered dose where the retailer publishes a delivery rate. Where none does, it is the cheapest such product before delivery, and it says how far the order is from free delivery. It is the same pick the category page shows.
How these lines are chosen
Among 1 product and 1 retailer listing we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below. No product here publishes a delivery rate below its free-delivery threshold, so the pick is priced before delivery.
How these lines are chosen
Among 2 products and 2 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below. No product here publishes a delivery rate below its free-delivery threshold, so the pick is priced before delivery.
How these lines are chosen
Among 6 products and 6 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
How these lines are chosen
Among 1 product and 1 retailer listing we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
Full comparison of every product in this category: Zinc. Every question we answer: the question index.
What this rests on: prices we last recorded at the retailer named on each product page, which go stale, and each page says when it was checked; the products we track, not every product sold, and Amazon and Walmart are not among the stores; listings and labels read at the source, each linked from the page. Found an error? Tell us. The full method: How we compare.