Research has shown that supplementing with chromium (200 mcg per day)⁵ or magnesium (340 mg per day)⁶ can prevent blood sugar levels from falling excessively in people with hypoglycemia. Niacinamide (vitamin B3) has also been found to be helpful for hypoglycemic people.⁷ Other nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, copper, manganese, and vitamin B6, may help control blood sugar levels in diabetics.⁸ Since there are similarities in the way the body regulates high and low blood sugar levels, these nutrients might be helpful for hypoglycemia as well, although the amounts needed for that purpose are not known.

Zinc is a component of many enzymes, including some that are needed to repair wounds. Even a mild deficiency of zinc can interfere with optimal recovery from everyday tissue damage as well as from more serious trauma.¹⁵ Trace minerals, such as manganese, copper, and silicon are also known to be important in the biochemistry of tissue healing.^16,17,18,19 However, there have been no controlled studies of people with sprains or strains to explore the effect of deficiency of these minerals, or of oral supplementation, on the rate of healing.

Interest in the effect of manganese and bone health began when famed basketball player Bill Walton’s repeated fractures were halted with manganese supplementation.²⁰ A subsequent, unpublished study reported manganese deficiency in a small group of osteoporotic women.²¹ Since then, a combination of minerals including manganese was reported to halt bone loss.²² However, no human trial has investigated the effect of manganese supplementation alone on bone mass. Nonetheless, some doctors recommend 10 to 20 mg of manganese per day to people concerned with maintenance of bone mass.

One trial studying postmenopausal women combined hormone replacement therapy with magnesium (600 mg per day), calcium (500 mg per day), vitamin C, B vitamins, vitamin D, zinc, copper, manganese, boron, and other nutrients for an eight- to nine-month period.²³ In addition, participants were told to avoid processed foods, limit protein intake, emphasize vegetable over animal protein, and limit consumption of salt, sugar, alcohol, coffee, tea, chocolate, and tobacco. Bone density increased a remarkable 11%, compared to only 0.7% in women receiving hormone replacement alone.

Another group of doctors has reported good results using a combination of zinc, manganese, and vitamin B6 for people with Osgood-Schlatter disease; however, the amounts of these supplements were not mentioned in the report.²⁴ Most physicians would consider reasonable daily amounts of these nutrients for adolescents to be 15 mg of zinc, 5 to 10 mg of manganese, and 25 mg of vitamin B6. Larger amounts might be used with medical supervision.