Other Names:
Atomic number 29, Citrate de Cuivre, Cobre, Copper Citrate, Copper Gluconate, Copper Sulfate, Cu, Cuivre, Cuivre Élémentaire, Cupric Oxide, Cupric Sulfate, Cupric Sulfate Pentahydrate, Cuprum Aceticum, Cuprum Metallicum, Elemental Copper, Glucon...Copper in health:
Copper is an essential trace element that is vital to the health of all living things (humans, plants, animals, and microorganisms).
In humans, copper is essential to the proper functioning of organs and metabolic processes. The human body has complex homeostatic mechanisms which attempt to ensure a constant supply of available copper, while eliminating excess copper whenever this occurs.
Functions:
Copper is an essential trace element (i.e., micronutrient) that is required for plant, animal, and human health. It is also required for the normal functioning of aerobic (oxygen-requiring) microorganisms.
Copper is incorporated into a variety of proteins and metalloenzymes which perform essential metabolic functions; the micronutrient is necessary for the proper growth, development, and maintenance of bone, connective tissue, brain, heart, and many other body organs.
Copper is involved in the formation of red blood cells, the absorption and utilization of iron, the metabolism of cholesterol and glucose, and the synthesis and release of life-sustaining proteins and enzymes. These enzymes in turn produce cellular energy and regulate nerve transmission, blood clotting, and oxygen transport.
Copper stimulates the immune system to fight infections, to repair injured tissues, and to promote healing. Copper also helps to neutralize "free-radicals", which can cause severe damage to cells.
This metallic element can help in enhancing the skin’s elastic fiber. With enough copper, hair problems may be avoided.
Copper is necessary for producing and storing iron.
Copper is also used for improving wound healing, and treating osteoarthritis and brittle bones (osteoporosis).
What food Copper is found in:
Copper is an essential trace mineral that cannot be formed by the human body. It must be ingested from dietary sources.
Foods contribute virtually all of the copper consumed by humans.
A survey carried out in Great Britain on behalf of the Food Standards Agency and the Departments of Health by the Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics and Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research in 2003 showed that the main contributor to mean daily copper intake was cereals & cereal products, 31% came from this source, about a quarter of which, 8%, came from white bread.
The best dietary sources include seafood (especially shellfish), organ meats (e.g., liver), whole grains, legumes (e.g., beans and lentils) and chocolate. Nuts, including peanuts and pecans, are especially rich in copper, as are grains such as wheat and rye, and several fruits including lemons and raisins.
Other food sources that contain copper include potatoes, peas, red meat, mushrooms, some dark green leafy vegetables (such as kale), and fruits (coconuts, papaya and apples).
Tea, rice and chicken are relatively low in copper, but can provide a reasonable amount of copper when they are consumed in significant amounts.
Drinking water can comprise 20-25% of dietary copper.
Eating a balanced diet with a range of foods from different food groups is the best way to avoid copper deficiency.
What symptoms and disorders copper deficiency may cause:
Lack of copper in people may produce shaggy skin, varicose veins and graying of the hair. Copper is used for treating copper deficiency and the anemia it may cause. Having too little copper (copper deficiency) is rare. It sometimes occurs in people who get too much zinc from diet or supplements, have intestinal bypass surgery, or are fed by feeding tubes. Malnourished infants can also have copper deficiency.
However severe deficiency of copper in pregnant mothers increases the risk of health problems in their fetuses and infants. Health effects noted include low birth weights, muscle weaknesses, and neurologic problems.
Since copper availability in the body is hindered by an excess of iron and zinc intake, pregnant women prescribed iron supplements to treat anemia or zinc supplements to treat colds should consult physicians to be sure that the prenatal supplements they may be taking also have nutritionally-significant amounts of copper.
If an insufficient amount of copper is ingested for a short period of time, copper stores in the liver will be depleted. Should this depletion continue, a copper health deficiency condition may develop.
If too much copper is ingested, an excess condition can result. Both of these conditions, deficiency and excess, can lead to tissue injury and disease. However, due to homeostatic regulation, the human body is capable of balancing a wide range of copper intakes for the needs of healthy individuals.
Problems related to excessive doses:
In 1996, the International Program on Chemical Safety, a World Health Organization-associated agency, stated "there is greater risk of health effects from deficiency of copper intake than from excess copper intake." This conclusion was confirmed in recent multi-route exposure surveys.
Excess copper intake causes stomach upset, nausea, and diarrhea and can lead to tissue injury and disease.
In humans, the liver is the primary organ of copper-induced toxicity. Other target organs include bone and the central nervous and immune systems. Excess copper intake also induces toxicity indirectly by interacting with other nutrients. For example, excess copper intake produces anemia by interfering with iron transport and/or metabolism.
The oxidation potential of copper may be responsible for some of its toxicity in excess ingestion cases. At high concentrations copper is known to produce oxidative damage to biological systems, including peroxidation of lipids or other macromolecules.
While the cause and progression of Alzheimer's disease are not well understood, research indicates that, among several other key observations, iron, aluminum, and copper accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. However, it is not yet known whether this accumulation is a cause or a consequence of the disease.
Acute exposures
In case reports of humans intentionally or accidentally ingesting high concentrations of copper salts (doses usually not known but reported to be 20–70 grams of copper), a progression of symptoms was observed including abdominal pain, headache, nausea, dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea, tachycardia, respiratory difficulty, hemolytic anemia, hematuria, massive gastrointestinal bleeding, liver and kidney failure, and death.
Episodes of acute gastrointestinal upset following single or repeated ingestion of drinking water containing elevated levels of copper (generally above 3–6 mg/L) are characterized by nausea, vomiting, and stomach irritation. These symptoms resolve when copper in the drinking water source is reduced.
Recommended doses for people in the UK:
In the UK, the Department of Health considers the available data on human copper requirements to be insufficient to determine an EAR.
In the USA, an EAR of adults for copper was derived from a combination of biochemical indicators of copper requirement, as no single indicator was judged as sufficiently sensitive, specific and consistent to be used alone.
A recommended daily allowance (RDA) can be calculated by extrapolating the EAR to account for inter-individual variation in requirements.
The USA RDA, like the UK Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) is intended to provide enough copper for about 97% of adults.
It is apparent that more data are needed if sound and defensible guidelines are to be derived.
The World Health Organization recommends a minimal acceptable intake of approximately 1.3 mg/day for adults.