The human body contains around 110 mg of copper. One of its most important functions is as a cofactor for lysyl oxidase, which is responsible for the formation of collagen cross links in connective tissue and bone.
Copper is an antioxidant found in enzymes that deactivate free radicals and make it possible for body to use iron.
Copper deficiency has been clearly documented in infants recovering from malnutrition, in premature and low-birth-weight infants fed milk diet, and in patients receiving prolonged total parental nutritional solution without added copper.
Copper also may play a role in slowing the aging process by decreasing the incidence of protein glycation, a reaction in which sugar molecules hook up with protein molecules in the blood stream twist the protein molecules out of shape, and make them unusable.
Protein glycation may result in bone loss, high cholesterol, cardiac abnormalities, and a slew of other unpleasantries.
Most copper deficient patients are malnourished and suffer from impaired weight gain. The immune system requires copper to perform several functions. Research showed that interleukin 2 is reduced in copper deficiency and is probably the mechanisms by which T-cell proliferation is reduced.
Copper is also used for the metabolism of essential fatty acids.
In people with diabetes excess protein glycation may also be one factor involved in complications such as loss of vision.
A mild copper deficiency impairs the ability of white blood cells to fight infection. If the body does not get a sufficient amount of copper, hemoglobin production decreases and copper deficiency anemia can result.
The most frequent symptoms of copper deficiency are hypopigmentation, increased incidence of infections, and abnormalities of glucose and cholesterol metabolism, electrocardiograms, inefficient utilization of iron and protein and stunted growth.
In babies, the development of nerve, bone, and lung tissue can be impaired and the structure of these body parts may altered.
Anemia has also been related to copper deficiency at three or four months of age in premature babies and babies of low birth-weight and in young babies receiving prolonged parental alimentation after bowel resection or for other reason.
Since the body does not manufacture copper, it must be taken in through the diet.
Copper Deficiency
