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.
5 of the 30 zinc products we track are confirmed at the exact package by a certifier. One more sits on a certifier's listing that names another package size, not the package we price. 23 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.
NSF names packages by size and count against each certificate. A brand can sell the same formula in several sizes, or several flavors, and have one of them named, so “this brand is NSF certified” can be true while the bottle in your hand is not one NSF names. The group “Listed, but not this package” 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.
Confirmed at this exact package, 5
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BulkSupplements.com Zinc Picolinate Softgels 11 mg (240 count) | Picolinate, 11 mg | $0.136 | 1822457 |
| Momentous Zinc (60 capsules) | Picolinate, 15 mg | $0.333 | 1612942 |
| Nature Made Zinc 30 mg (100 tablets) | Gluconate, 30 mg | $0.029 | USP Verified, product in directory, mark on label |
| Core Med Science Zinc 30 mg (60 capsules) | Picolinate, 30 mg | $0.142 | 1795655 |
| Thorne Zinc Picolinate 30 mg, NSF Certified for Sport (60 capsules) | Picolinate, 30 mg | $0.192 | 1211643 |
Listed, but not this package, 1
A certifier lists this brand's product, but the listing names another package size, or the same ingredient in another form, and not the package we price. Not a failure, and not a confirmation either.
| Product | Type | Per 15 mg | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorne Zinc Picolinate 30 mg (180 capsules) | Picolinate, 30 mg | $0.114 | 1211643 |
Searched, and not found, 23
Each of these is absent from every program list we checked it against. Every one was checked against NSF Certified for Sport, and each product page names any other program. These programs certify what a company submits to them, so a product can be absent from a list 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, 30 mg | $0.167 | Not settled |
NSF Certified for Sport, the Informed programs' published product lists 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 that clears every other bar 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 that clears every other bar publishes a delivery rate below its free-delivery threshold, so the pick is priced before delivery.
How these lines are chosen
Among 7 products and 7 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, with no recall or failed test, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving. Where the retailer publishes no delivery rate, the pick is priced before delivery and says so. Nothing we track here clears all of those 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, with no recall or failed test, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving. Where the retailer publishes no delivery rate, the pick is priced before delivery and says so. Nothing we track here clears all of those 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, with no recall or failed test, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving. Where the retailer publishes no delivery rate, the pick is priced before delivery and says so. Nothing we track here clears all of those yet. This one 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, with no recall or failed test, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving. Where the retailer publishes no delivery rate, the pick is priced before delivery and says so. Nothing we track here clears all of those yet. This one 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.