Is Zinc Safe with Ciprofloxacin?
Free · No account · based on published sources including NIH ODS, FDA drug labels, and peer-reviewed literature
Take zinc supplements at least 2 hours before or 6 hours after Ciprofloxacin to avoid interaction.
Why this interaction occurs
Zinc ions form chelate complexes with ciprofloxacin similarly to other divalent cations, reducing its oral bioavailability significantly and risking therapeutic failure.
Evidence
Evidence level: strong.
Reported safety data
The FDA’s adverse event reporting system (FAERS) has received 86,830 reports mentioning Ciprofloxacin. This reflects reported cases involving the medication in general — not confirmed causation, and not specific to the Ciprofloxacin + supplement combination on this page.
FAERS reports are voluntary and cannot prove that a drug caused an event. Do not use report counts to assess the safety of this specific drug-supplement pair.
Frequently asked questions
Related interactions
All Zinc interactions → · All Ciprofloxacin interactions →
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Educational only — not medical advice.
Always confirm with your doctor or pharmacist.