Heart, bone disease linked to low copper diet
Medical doctors, like French physician Luton, treated arthritis using a salve made of hog’s lard blended with copper acetate, and for good reason. Copper, an essential mineral, does the body good, many studies have found.
By 37 A.D., when Roman Physician Aulus Cornelius Celsus was practicing medicine, copper had been accepted as a vital drug in the doctor’s pharmacopoeia, used for treating ailments ranging from ulcers to boils to ear aches and much more.
Until the 1940s copper was used for treating tuberculosis. In fact, even pharmaceutical giant Bayer had created an organic complex of copper that was shown to be effective in the treatment of tuberculosis.
1966 saw the emergence of modern research on the subject of copper and its medicinal properties, with John R.J. Sorenson, professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Pharmacy proving the efficacy of using non-toxic doses of copper complexes for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. His research showed the most effective way for the body to use copper for inflammatory disease is through a topical application of a copper substance.
A study over two decades ago – Lack of Recommended Dietary Allowance for Copper May be Hazardous to your Health – reported that a daily intake of less than 1000 mcg may lead to chronic health conditions due to low copper.
The National Institute of Health recommends a daily intake of copper of 1,700 mcg.
A 1998 study in the Journal of American College of Nutrition pointed out decades of research has been carried out on health impacts, particularly heart disease and bone disease, on animals fed diets low in copper. Researchers noted when men and women are fed diets of around 1000 mcg copper per day, which is around the average in the U.S. they noted, the men and women experienced detrimental, yet reversible, effects to blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose metabolism, as well as changes in bone density.
Ischemic heart disease and osteoporosis are consequences of diets low in copper, according to the study citing low copper as a health concern. Women supplemented with trace elements, including copper experienced beneficial effects on bone density. The Western diet is frequently low in copper in comparison to suggested standards making it important to choose healthy natural supplementation to ensure the body receives the recommended daily intake of copper for optimal healthy living, according to Sorenson’s research. There are many natural ways to receive copper supplementation both orally and topically. Copper cook ware, copper water pitchers, copper oral supplements, copper bracelets and topical copper creams, to name a few.