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

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