Though all trace minerals are important and incremental to health, copper is perhaps the most powerful and versatile one of them all! Copper is the spark plug of the human body that keeps the cells energized and reinvigorated. Many ailments, from amenorrhea, lethargy to Alzheimer’s, will see improvement quickly by just adding a little bioavailable copper to the diet, daily. Yet many people associate this trace mineral with a negative connotation: copper toxicity. In this article however, you will see that when the right type and dose of copper is added, health problems of all type will see improve dramatically.
But what is copper and what makes it so important?
Copper is that metal that is used as a conductor of electricity — second in effectiveness only to silver. But copper is also used as a trace mineral to electrify the cells of the human body, of course in a more bioavailable form. If there is no copper, there is no life. Magnesium is the fire, but copper is the match that lights and guides the fire! When you awaken from sleep, don’t think cortisol did that — think, copper did that. Cortisol’s active ingredient is copper. Your will power to step out of bed literally contains copper.
But how does it work?
Copper is like a baby that needs to be carried and cared for by its mother. It needs motherly guidance, else it may go rogue and cause chaos wherever it lay — hence the negative connotation some people associate with copper. This association can be real though.
When copper enters the body, it is first transported by a transport protein called transcuprein (a macroglobulin). This protein is involved in the initial distribution of copper entering the blood from the digestive tract. There is a balance between transcuprein and another transport protein called albumin in blood plasma, creating a proper copper ratio. An imbalance of this ratio may signal disease. There is eventually an exchange between transcuprein to albumin for the eventual carriage and storage to the liver and kidneys.
But the great execution of copper distribution to the organs and tissues throughout the body happens with a large transport protein made in the liver, called apoceruloplasmin. When up to six copper atoms fits into this transport protein for distribution, it is now called ceroluplasmin. In fact, ceroluplasmin carries arguably more than 95% of total copper in healthy human plasma. The rest may be accounted for by other proteins called macroglobulin and albumin.
So how is copper beneficial?
When copper is properly transported by its transport proteins like ceroluplasmin or macroglobulin, it emits a host of benefits:
– Helps build collagen
– Helps build melanin
– Maintains proper nerve and brain function
– Helps create and protect myelin sheath
– Maintains proper immune function
– Maintains proper blood
– Helps burn glucose efficiently and completely
– Helps create ATP (cellular energy)
– Helps dispose of cellular exhaust
– Awakens powerful enzymes
– Decreases excess cholesterol
– Turn saturated fats into monounsaturated fats
– Creates proper hormonal balance
– Helps conserve body water
So what does this all mean for our health?
– Helps build collagen: prevents bone demineralization like osteoporosis, and speeds up wound healing through connective tissues
– Helps build melanin: prevents premature hair graying, eye discoloration and skin discoloration, like vitiligo. Acts as a natural sunscreen and helps prevent sunburn
– Maintains proper nerve and brain function: May reverse degeneration diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and even Epilepsy
– Helps create and protect myelin sheath: may slow or reverse multiple sclerosis or any neurological disorder
– Maintains proper immune function: prevents infections and fights all types of diseases more efficiently
– Maintains proper blood: keeps proper blood pH, prevents BOTH iron anemia and copper anemia. Absorbs iron and prevents toxic iron buildup in tissues
– Helps burn glucose efficiently and completely: may prevent insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and diabetes
– Helps create ATP (cellular energy): energizes the heart muscle, lungs and all other organs, thus preventing lethargy
– Helps dispose of cellular exhaust: acts as an antioxidant against free radicals and turns hydrogen peroxide back into water through SOD and other enzymatic activities
– Awakens powerful enzymes: speeds up all cellular activity. Keeps the river of metabolism in constant flow
– Decreases high cholesterol: may reduce excess LDL particles and its cholesterol and may increase HDL particles
– Turns saturated fats into monounsaturated fats: may reduce complicated fatty acids (stearic acid) into a more simple form (oleic acid), as found in olive oil
– Creates proper hormonal balance: beneficial for those with low testosterone, estrogen dominance, excess cortisol, menstruating and menopausal women and all other hormonal imbalances
– Helps conserve body water: may prevent dehydration and create the right environment for electrolyte balance
Great! So where can we get copper in our diet?
Like most things in life, if we want the good stuff, we have to search out for it. What makes whole food vitamin C so powerful? Probably because it contains a copper in enzymatic form called tyrosinase. What makes beef liver, shiitake mushrooms, amla, acerola, sesame seeds, and oysters so powerful and important? Probably because they also are all sources high in copper!
But what depletes copper in the body?
Not only must we be mindful to supply our body with proper copper level, but we must also be mindful not to be depleting our bodies of copper. High zinc intake is legendary for causing copper depletion. Both zinc and copper share the same receptor sites in the gut. Metallothionein — the protein that binds heavy metals in the intestine — binds copper 1000 times more than it does zinc, often said by health expert, Morley Robbins. This means copper can be much more easily lost than zinc can.
But there are other things that deplete copper that we may take for granted, like ascorbic acid, high fructose corn syrup, things with excess calcium, phosphorus, manganese, molybdenum and iron. Glyphosate is a very dangerous chelator of copper. So is certain medications, even over the counter medications, like antacids and histamine blockers.
If your digestive system or liver is not working properly, copper status may be compromised. Those with leaky gut, low stomach acid, fatty liver, obstructed bile flow, celiac disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome should all keep an eye on their copper status! Copper level in the body should average 100 mg — about the size of an American penny.
Furthermore, there are inherited, genetic disorders that may cause a depletion or dysregulation of copper in the body, namely, Menkes disease and its mildest form, occipital horn syndrome. These conditions are rare, and will thus not be discussed here.
But what is this copper toxicity?
Surprisingly, much of what we think we know about copper toxicity may not be copper toxicity at all. Yes, contaminated water sources from defected copper pipes and copper cookware may instigate what we may know as copper toxicity. But these are rare examples. The main problem with copper toxicity may come from a more sinister source: organ failure — namely, gallbladder stones and obstructed bile flow, that causes all manner of evil. Since excess copper is excreted through bile, it is this obstructed bile flow that causes a backup of excess copper in the liver that should have otherwise been excreted through the alimentary canal. So, to prevent copper toxicity from building up in the liver, do whatever it takes to maintain proper bile flow, thus adding bitters, such as kutki, bhumi amla, artichoke extract and bitter melon. Tudca, a water soluble bile acid, may help as well.
As is with copper depletion, there is also the antithesis to that: copper overload. Wilson’s disease is perhaps the most popular genetic disorder, that causes copper toxicity to build in the liver and nervous systems. This disorder is not caused by the accumulation of copper in tissues — that is merely the result. The cause of Wilson’s disease is lack of the transport protein ceroluplasmin that holds copper, or the inability of copper to fit into ceroluplasmin. Copper toxicity is also caused, as previously mentioned, by the liver’s inability to expel excess copper into bile for excretion.
So, how should we take copper?
Mother nature knows best. The safest way to take copper is in a complex, that also contains zinc. Though zinc and copper may seem opposing to each other, they also need each other and may actually be monitoring [not opposing] each other to make biological processes work. A ratio of 10:1 or 10:2 zinc to copper may be ideal. The body is very picky about how much copper it needs, and quickly tries to get rid of the excess. Soley supplementing on copper may be risky for those with a compromised gallbladder, since an efficient gallbladder is needed to expel excess copper through bile.