What does ZMA do to the body?

The journey of a dose, the gut and the blood, the first day

What ZMA does to the body is best told by following a dose from the capsule to the kidneys, because the journey is where the marketing and the physiology part company. The gut, hours zero to twelve: three capsules of the classic formula dissolve in the stomach, the zinc salt, the magnesium aspartate and the vitamin B6 dissociating into ions and a vitamin, and the first thing the body feels, if the label's fasted bedtime instruction was followed, is the zinc, 30mg of it in an empty stomach being the reliable route to nausea, stomach upset and the small-hours wake that the forums report as ZMA's commonest side effect, and that a meal prevents. Over the following hours the small intestine absorbs the zinc and the magnesium by their saturable transport routes, taking a fraction of each that falls as the dose rises, and the unabsorbed magnesium, most of a 450mg aspartate dose in many people, travels on to the colon within six to twelve hours, where it draws water and, at that dose, loosens the morning's stools, the second thing the body feels. The blood, the first days: the absorbed zinc and magnesium enter the circulation, where both are held in narrow ranges and defended, so that serum magnesium rises briefly and returns, the kidneys excreting the surplus within a day or two, and serum zinc does the same, nothing in the blood lasting and nothing in the blood being a hormone, an anabolic signal or a sedative, the first-night effects readers report being the evening, the ritual and expectation rather than anything the dose has done by the time they feel it.

The tissue pools, the kidneys, the register sentences that describe the trip, and what is not on the journey

The tissue pools, weeks: this is where ZMA does what it does, and only for the reader who was short. Zinc is held in muscle, bone, the prostate and the immune system, magnesium in bone and muscle and inside every cell as magnesium-ATP, and both pools fill over four to eight weeks of daily intake in a man whose status was low, from a light training diet, heavy sweat losses or a poor plate, restoring whatever the shortfall was costing, which the register's sentences describe exactly: zinc's contribution to normal immune function, skin, hair and nails, cognitive function, fertility and reproduction and the maintenance of normal testosterone levels, magnesium's contribution to normal muscle function, nervous system function, psychological function, energy metabolism, protein synthesis and the reduction of tiredness and fatigue, and B6's contribution to energy metabolism, psychological function and fatigue, every one a maintenance sentence, every one a restoration in a reader who was short, and every one nothing in a reader who was replete, whose pools were full and whose surplus went straight to the kidneys. The kidneys, throughout: they excrete the surplus of both minerals every day, so nothing accumulates in working kidneys, the daily question turning on the zinc's copper effect over months rather than on any build-up, the ZMA safety page's third heading. What is not on the journey is the marketing: no testosterone rise above a man's own normal, the independent trial in trained men finding none; no sedation, none of the three ingredients having one; no strength or growth effect beyond a replete cofactor, the same trial finding none. The journey filed: the gut where fasted zinc nauseates and unabsorbed magnesium loosens, the blood where nothing lasts, the tissue pools that fill over weeks only where short, the kidneys that excrete the rest, and the register's maintenance sentences describing the whole trip with no boost on it, the worked example being the magnesium half of the journey without the fasted zinc, bisglycinate at 300mg elemental with the evening meal, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p.

The verdict, a journey with a rough start, a quiet middle, and a slow end that only the short feel

What does ZMA do to the body: followed as a dose, it dissociates in the stomach, where fasted zinc nauseates, absorbs over hours in the small intestine while the unabsorbed magnesium loosens the morning's stools from the colon, enters a blood that defends its levels and excretes the surplus within a day or two, and fills the tissue pools of zinc and magnesium over four to eight weeks only in a man whose status was low, restoring the maintenance sentences the register names, immune, skin, fertility and testosterone maintenance for zinc, muscle, nerves, mind and fatigue for magnesium, with nothing boosted, nothing sedated and nothing grown beyond a replete cofactor. The magnesium half without the fasted zinc: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, bisglycinate, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV with the evening meal, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

What happens when you take ZMA?

The salts dissociate in the stomach, fasted zinc nauseates, zinc and magnesium absorb over hours while the unabsorbed magnesium loosens stools from the colon, the blood defends its levels and excretes the surplus, and the tissue pools fill over weeks only in a man whose status was low.

Does ZMA do anything the first night?

Nothing pharmacological: the minerals have barely absorbed and sedate nothing at any dose, so the first night's feelings are the evening, the ritual and expectation, and the first thing the body actually registers is the fasted zinc's nausea.

Where does the zinc and magnesium in ZMA go?

Zinc to muscle, bone, the prostate and the immune system, magnesium to bone, muscle and every cell as magnesium-ATP, both pools filling over four to eight weeks of daily intake where status was low and the surplus going to the kidneys where it was not.

Does ZMA build up in the body?

No: working kidneys excrete the surplus of both minerals daily, so nothing accumulates, and the long-term question is the zinc's effect on copper over months at the men's 30mg dose rather than any build-up.

What does ZMA not do to the body?

It does not raise testosterone above a man's own normal, the independent trial in trained men finding none, does not sedate, none of its ingredients having a sedative effect, and does not grow muscle beyond a replete cofactor, the same trial finding no strength or composition change.

Sources

1. The magnesium absorption kinetics literature: oral magnesium is absorbed mainly in the distal small intestine over the hours after a dose, the unabsorbed remainder reaching the colon within six to twelve hours where its osmotic effect appears, and surplus absorbed magnesium is excreted by the kidneys within a day or two. PubMed record
2. The GB claims register, zinc entries: zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal testosterone levels in the blood, to normal fertility and reproduction, to normal immune function and to the maintenance of normal skin, hair and nails, among others, at 15% NRV or more. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register
3. The GB claims register, magnesium entries: magnesium contributes to a reduction of tiredness and fatigue, normal psychological function, normal nervous system function, normal muscle function and electrolyte balance, among others. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register
4. Wilborn CD, et al. Effects of zinc magnesium aspartate (ZMA) supplementation on training adaptations and markers of anabolism and catabolism. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2004;1(2):12-20. PubMed record

Related answers

• What does ZMA do for the male body?
• Does ZMA work reddit?
• Does ZMA help with women?
• Does ZMA increase testosterone?
• How long does it take for ZMA to work?
• Does ZMA really boost testosterone?