Zinc and vision: the approved claim and the amount
Futures Nutrition Editorial Team · 13 August 2026
Zinc and vision: the approved claim and the amount
Zinc is one of four nutrients that may be connected with the maintenance of vision in the EU. The approved claim reads, word for word: "Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal vision." It applies as soon as a daily portion supplies at least 1.5 mg of zinc — less than what most zinc tablets contain. Anyone looking at 25 mg on a pack is therefore not looking at a "stronger" claim, but at the same one. The amount does not decide the sentence; it decides how close you come to the upper limits.
The claim in its original wording
The governing text is Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, the list of permitted health claims. Zinc appears there with thirteen entries — one of them concerns vision:
Zinc contributes to the maintenance of normal vision.
This wording is the version that may be used. Rewordings such as "for sharp sight" or "protects the eyes" are not weaker variants of the same sentence but different claims — and those are not authorised. As the scientific basis, the regulation cites the EFSA assessment in EFSA Journal 2009;7(9):1229, held in the register under entry number 361.
Besides zinc, only vitamin A, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA carry a vision claim. Which ones those are in detail, and what the regulation otherwise lacks on the subject, is set out in Eye nutrients: which claims are approved.
Why zinc carries the same register number as vitamin A metabolism
One detail in the regulation explains how the claim came about. Number 361 appears twice in the table: once for vision and once for the claim "Zinc contributes to normal metabolism of vitamin A." Both entries point to the same EFSA assessment.
That is more than a formality. In the visual process zinc does not act as an "eye nutrient" in its own right, but by way of vitamin A metabolism — the same axis the vitamin A claim hangs on. Reading both sentences on one pack therefore does not mean reading two independent pieces of evidence, but two formulations out of a single dossier. The vitamin A sentence is drawn just as narrowly; word for word it reads "Vitamin A contributes to the maintenance of normal vision." and says nothing about eye diseases or visual acuity.
The condition: 1.5 mg per daily portion
Every approved claim comes with a condition of use. For zinc it reads: the food must be at least a source of zinc. What that means is set out in the annex to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 — a significant amount within the meaning of nutrition labelling, which under Annex XIII of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 is 15 per cent of the nutrient reference value. The reference value (NRV) for zinc is 10 mg.
15 per cent of 10 mg is 1.5 mg. For food supplements this amount refers to the daily portion stated on the label, not to 100 grams of tablets.
From this follows the observation that is worth most in front of the shelf: a product with 2 mg of zinc may carry the vision claim. A product with 25 mg may carry the same claim. The sentence does not get longer, stronger or more specific as the number rises.
The amounts at a glance
| Reference figure | Zinc per day | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Condition for the vision claim | 1.5 mg | 15 % of the NRV, Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Ann. XIII |
| Nutrient reference value (NRV) on the label | 10 mg | Reg. (EU) No 1169/2011 Ann. XIII |
| Recommended intake, women | 7–10 mg, depending on phytate intake | DGE, 2019 derivation |
| Recommended intake, men | 11–16 mg, depending on phytate intake | DGE, 2019 derivation |
| EFSA reference value (PRI), adults | 7.5–16.3 mg, depending on phytate category | EFSA, 2014 |
| Proposed maximum amount for food supplements | 6.5 mg | BfR, maximum amount proposals for zinc |
| Upper level (UL) for total intake, adults | 25 mg | SCF, opinion of 5 March 2002 |
| Upper level (UL), adolescents aged 15–17 | 22 mg | SCF, ibid. |
Two rows of this table are regularly mixed up. The UL of 25 mg is not a portion figure but the tolerable total intake from everything combined — food, fortified products, supplements. The BfR proposal of 6.5 mg, by contrast, is an amount per recommended daily portion of a product; the federal institute derives it from the gap between the observed intake of people with very low zinc consumption (6.5 mg/day at the 5th percentile of the second German National Nutrition Survey, NVS II) and the averaged EFSA recommendation for men (13 mg/day). Above 3.5 mg of added zinc, the BfR additionally recommends a note to forgo other zinc-containing products.
What food already contributes
The number on the pack is never the daily amount — it comes on top. The second German National Nutrition Survey (NVS II) measured median zinc intakes of 8.6 to 9.5 mg per day for women aged 19 to 80, and 10.4 to 12.3 mg for men. At the 95th percentile, men reach 16.8 to 22.9 mg depending on age group — from diet alone.
How much of that actually arrives depends on phytate. Phytic acid from wholegrain cereals and pulses binds zinc in the gut; this is why the DGE has stated its recommendation in steps since 2019 — 11 mg for men at low, 16 mg at high phytate intake. Soaking, sprouting and sourdough fermentation break phytate down and improve absorption, as does animal protein in the same meal. Anyone eating a mainly plant-based diet therefore sits at the upper end of the recommendation, not the lower one.
Why some eye supplements list 15 or 25 mg
The high zinc amounts in eye formulas have a recognisable origin: the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), published in 2001 in Archives of Ophthalmology (119(10):1417–36). 3,640 participants aged 55 to 80 received, over an average of 6.3 years, among other things 80 mg of zinc as zinc oxide, together with 2 mg of copper as copper oxide.
Three points belong with that. First, this was an ophthalmological study in people with a diagnosed eye disease — not a field of use for a food supplement, and what follows from it is decided by a doctor, not by the shelf. Second, 80 mg is more than three times the UL of 25 mg. Third, none of the approved EU claims covers the purpose of that study: the sentence zinc carries speaks of the maintenance of normal vision, not of the course of a disease.
Why the study added 2 mg of copper is the interesting part — and leads straight to the next question.
Zinc and copper: the reason for the upper limit
The UL of 25 mg does not rest on complaints after the tablet, but on copper balance. High zinc intakes stimulate the formation of metallothionein in the cells of the intestinal mucosa; this protein binds copper so tightly that less of it leaves the cell towards the bloodstream (SCF, opinion of 5 March 2002). The committee set a NOAEL of around 50 mg per day — the highest amount at which controlled studies showed no unfavourable changes in copper parameters — and divided it by an uncertainty factor of 2. That produced the 25 mg.
In practice: anyone taking high zinc amounts over a longer period should know the copper side. What is documented on the relationship between the two is set out in Zinc and copper: what the ratio really means; the upper limits in detail are in Too much zinc: the 25 mg limit and what it means.
What is on the pack — and what counts
Three places on the label answer the question about the amount:
- The mg figure for zinc. It means the element, not the compound. "175 mg zinc gluconate" is around 25 mg of zinc — the arithmetic is in Zinc forms compared: what counts on the label.
- The percentage of the reference value. Anything from 15 per cent meets the condition for the vision claim. For food supplements this figure is mandatory.
- The daily portion. If the mg figure applies to two tablets, everything halves when you take one.
In our own range, Zinc + vitamin B3 supplies 25 mg of zinc from zinc gluconate per tablet, which is 250 per cent of the reference value. The condition for the vision claim is thus far exceeded; at the same time the tablet matches the UL for total intake, on top of which diet still comes, and it sits clearly above what the BfR proposes per daily portion. That is not a warning but the figure worth knowing if you plan on the product long term or combine it with other zinc-containing products.
Anyone looking for an eye supplement, by contrast, should check whether it contains zinc at all: our Vitamin A + E + lutein carries 400 µg of vitamin A, 20 mg of vitamin E and 10 mg of lutein — the vision claim on that pack hangs on the vitamin A, not on the zinc. What else the range holds on the subject is shown by the category Eyes; single-nutrient zinc products are under Zinc.
Food supplements are not a substitute for a balanced and varied diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Frequently asked questions
Does more zinc make the vision claim stronger? No. The condition is a threshold, not a scale: from 1.5 mg per daily portion the sentence may appear, below that it may not. A product with 25 mg carries exactly the same wording as one with 2 mg.
Is zinc enough on its own, or is vitamin A needed alongside it? Both carry their own approved sentence, and both apply independently of each other. Because zinc acts in the visual process by way of vitamin A metabolism, the two often stand side by side in combination products — but no joint claim follows from that which anyone would be allowed to use.
How much zinc may I take on top if my diet is already rich in zinc? The UL of 25 mg applies to the sum of all sources. With a median intake of around 9 mg (women) or 11 mg (men) from food, a double-digit margin remains on paper; anyone in the upper range of the consumption survey does not have it. The BfR recommends 6.5 mg per daily portion for supplements and, from 3.5 mg, a note not to take further zinc-containing products.
Does zinc help with tired eyes after a day at the screen? There is no approved claim for that, and the data do not carry one either. What is factually documented about screen work is set out in Eyes and screen work: what the evidence shows.
