Could this table be re-arranged into one table (using a view )
+----+------+--------+
| id | item1| item2 |
+----+------+--------+
| 1 | A | B |
| 2 | 0 | B |
| 3 | A | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 0 |
+----+------+--------+
Moving the data to this arrangement:
+----+------+
| id |items |
+----+------+
| 1 | A |
| 2 | B |
| 3 | B |
| 4 | A |
+----+------+