For months my partner would watch as I’d come down with illness after illness brought home by my two young children.

One was attending a childminder’s, the other in pre-school, and it seemed like every week or so they were bringing back a new cough, cold or rash.

Sometimes we hit the jackpot and got all three. (And don’t get me started on the tummy bugs.)

While my partner would occasionally get a bit of fatigue for a day or two, I would be struck down with the most awful symptoms: shivers, sweating, fatigue, coughs that sounded like they rattled around my chest (and would last for weeks), body aches, loss of smell, you name it.

The main difference between my partner and I? He was taking a daily zinc supplement. I wasn’t.

After quite a few months where I’d been relentlessly ill on and off, my partner asked: “Why don’t you try some zinc?”

I’ll be the first to admit I was pretty sceptical. How much could a tiny zinc supplement really do?

Well, I swiftly learned the answer is: a lot. I started taking them earlier this year and all of a sudden, I wasn’t getting sick every other week. In fact, I was rarely coming down with those pesky bugs.

My kids would come back from childcare with awful colds, snot strewn across their faces. I would get the odd headache, or experience an occasional day where I’d feel more tired, but that was it. All of a sudden my body was given a fighting chance.

Even when we moved house – arguably the most stressful week of my life, where my normal sleep routine and diet was severely disrupted – my body didn’t relent.

What is zinc?

Zinc is a mineral........

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