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Quick answer
Yes. At the doses most people use — 15–25 mg zinc and 200–400 mg magnesium — taking them together with food is fine. Absorption competition is dose-dependent, so separate them by about two hours only if you are running very high doses of either. Evening suits both.
The competition story is overblown at normal doses
Zinc and magnesium are both divalent minerals and they do share some absorption pathways, which is where the "never take them together" advice comes from. The part that gets left out is that the interference is dose-dependent, and at the doses in a sensible daily stack it is small enough to be a rounding error.
The competition becomes measurable when one mineral is present in a large excess — think therapeutic zinc doses well above 40 mg, or gram-level magnesium. At 15–25 mg of zinc alongside 200–400 mg of elemental magnesium, you are nowhere near that territory.
Food changes the calculus further in your favor. A meal slows gastric emptying and spreads mineral delivery out over a longer window, which reduces the moment-to-moment competition at the absorption site. Which is convenient, because zinc needs to be taken with food anyway.
Where separating them actually earns its place
If you are on a therapeutic zinc dose for a defined period, or a magnesium dose at the top of the range for bowel regularity, putting about two hours between them is a reasonable and cost-free precaution. Same story if you are also taking a high-dose calcium or iron supplement, since those compete more aggressively than either of these two do with each other.
The other case worth separating is a medication timing problem rather than a mineral one. Several antibiotics and thyroid medications absorb poorly when taken close to any mineral. That is not a zinc-and-magnesium issue specifically — it is a "minerals bind things" issue. Separate by a few hours and have your pharmacist review the actual schedule.
Outside of those situations, splitting them across the day mostly buys you a more complicated routine and a higher chance of forgetting one. Simplicity has real value in a protocol you intend to run for years.
The ZMA question
ZMA — zinc, magnesium aspartate, and vitamin B6 — was marketed hard to athletes on the strength of testosterone and strength claims. The honest version is narrower: in athletes who were genuinely low in zinc or magnesium, correcting the deficiency improved hormonal and performance markers. In athletes who already had adequate status, follow-up work was distinctly unimpressive.
That is not a knock on the ingredients, just on the pitch. Zinc deficiency clearly suppresses testosterone and correcting it helps; magnesium status is associated with sleep quality and free testosterone. Neither is a booster in an already-replete person, and the ZMA marketing consistently blurred that line.
What survives is worth having: both minerals are commonly short in modern diets, both matter for hormonal health, and both are cheap to cover. Take them because you probably run low, not because a bottle promised you a hormonal transformation.
How to take them: one evening dose, with food
The practical setup is a single evening dose with dinner: 15–25 mg zinc as bisglycinate, and 200–400 mg elemental magnesium as bisglycinate chelate. Both forms are chelated to glycine, both are gentle on the stomach, and both suit an evening slot.
Evening is a genuine preference for magnesium rather than an arbitrary one — it supports the wind-down side of sleep, and taking it 1–2 hours before bed is the common protocol. Zinc has no time preference at all, so it may as well ride along with the meal.
One caution that applies to zinc alone: sustained intakes above roughly 40 mg a day can lower copper status over months. Check whether a multivitamin is already contributing zinc before you stack a standalone capsule on top, and keep the daily total in the 15–25 mg range for long-term use.
Relevant stacks
Frequently asked questions
Should I take zinc and magnesium at the same time?
At typical doses, yes — 15–25 mg zinc and 200–400 mg magnesium taken together with food is fine, and a single evening dose is the simplest routine that people actually stick to. Only bother separating them by about two hours if one of the doses is unusually high or clinically prescribed.
Does magnesium block zinc absorption?
Not meaningfully at normal supplement doses. The two minerals share some absorption pathways, so very large amounts of one can reduce uptake of the other, but that competition scales with dose. At the amounts in a standard daily stack, taken with a meal, the effect is too small to plan around.
Is ZMA actually worth taking?
The ingredients are worth taking; the marketing was not. Correcting a real zinc or magnesium shortfall improves hormonal and sleep markers, and both are commonly low in athletes and general populations. In people who already have adequate status, ZMA has not shown the testosterone effects it was sold on.
What is the best time to take zinc and magnesium?
Dinner. Zinc has to be with food or it causes nausea, and dinner is usually the largest meal and safely distant from morning coffee, which reduces mineral absorption. Magnesium has a genuine evening preference because it supports the wind-down side of sleep, ideally 1–2 hours before bed.
How much zinc and magnesium should I take together?
For a daily foundation: 15–25 mg of elemental zinc as bisglycinate, and 200–400 mg of elemental magnesium as bisglycinate chelate. Keep the zinc total below about 40 mg a day for long-term use, counting anything a multivitamin is already contributing, since sustained high zinc can lower copper status.
Written for adults aged 18 and over. This content is for education only and is not medical advice. Supplements are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Talk with your clinician before starting any supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or managing a health condition. Supplements for children are a pediatric clinician's decision — keep all supplements out of reach of children.
Our medical advisor is Dr. Garrett Wdowin, NMD, ABAAHP, FAARM, naturopathic doctor. This page has not been medically reviewed.