Excerpt from the Periodic Table of
Metals, Minerals & Rare Earths
Cu - Copper is found in igneous rocks
at 55 ppm; shale at 45 ppm; sandstone at 5ppm; limestone 4 ppm; fresh water
at 0.01 ppm; sea water at 0.003 ppm; soils at 2 to 100 ppm (copper is strongly
absorbed by humus; there are known areas of the world with extreme copper
deficiency); marine plants 11 ppm; land plants 14 ppm; marine animals 4
to 50 ppm ( accumulates in the blood of annelids (worms), crustaceans
and mollusks, especially cephalopods; land animals at 2 to 4 ppm with highest
levels in the liver.
Copper is essential to all living organisms
and is a universally important cofactor for many hundreds of metalloenzynes.
Copper deficiency is widespread and appears in many forms .
Copper is required in many physiological functions (i.e.- RNA, DNA, lysil
oxidase cofactor, melanin Production (hair and skin pigment),
electron transfer of oxygen subcellular respiration, tensile strength of
elastic fibers in blood vessels, skin, vertebral discs, etc.).
Neonatal enzootic ataxia (sway back, lamkruis) was recognized as a clinical
entity in 1937 as a copper deficiency in pregnant sheep. Copper supplements
prevented the syndrome which was characterized by demyelination of the cerebellum
and spinal cord. Cavitation or gelatinous lesions of the cerebral
white matter, chromatolysis, nerve cell death and myelin aplasia (failure
to form). These are all changes identical with human cerebral palsy.
Famous people affected or dying of an obvious copper deficiency
include Albert Einstein (ruptured cerebral aneurysms), Paavo Aerola (ruptured
cerebral aneurysms), Conway Twitty (ruptured abdominal aorta aneurysm),
George and Barbara Bush (thyroid disease, white hair) - four to six of
every 100 Americans autopsied have died of a ruptured aneurysm, an additional
40 Percent have aneurysms that had not yet ruptured.
The average well-nourished adult human body contains between 80 and
120 mg of copper. Concentrations are higher in the brain, liver, heart
and kidneys. Bone and muscle have lower percentages of copper but contain
50 percent of the body total copper reserves because of their mass. It
is of interest that the greatest concentration of copper is found in the
newborn and their daily requirement is 0.08 mg/kg, toddlers require 0.04
mg/kg and adults only 0.03 mg/ kg.
The average plasma copper for women ranges from 87 to 153 mg/dl and
for men it ranges from 89 to 137 mg/dl; about 90 percent of the plasma
copper is found in ceruloplasmin.
Copper functions as a co-factor and activator of numerous cuproenzymes
that are involved in the development (deficiency of Cu in the pregnant
female results in congenital defects of the heart, i.e.-Kawasaki Disease
and brain - i.e.- cerebral palsy and hypoplasia of the cerebellum) and
maintenance of the cardiovascular system (deficiency results in reduced
lysyl oxidase activity causing a reduction in conversion of pro elastin
to elastin causing a decrease in tinsel strength of arterial walls and
rup tured aneurysms and skeletal integrity
(deficiency results in a specific type of arthritis of the young in the
form of spurs in the bones growth plate); deficiency can result in myelin
defects; deficiency results in anemia; and poor hair keratinization and
loss of hair color. Neutropenia (reduced numbers of neutophillic WBC) and
leukopenia (reduced total WBC) are the earliest indicators of copper deficiency
in infants; infants whose diets are primarily cows milk frequently develop
anemia; iron storage disease can result from chronic copper deficiency.
Menkes' Kinky Hair Syndrome is thought to be a sex-linked recessive
defect of copper absorption. The affected infants exibit retarded growth,
defective keratin formation and loss of hair pigment, low body temperature,
degeneration and fracture of aortic elastin (aneurysms), arthritis in the
growth plate of long bones, and a progressive mental deterioration (brain
tissue is totally free of the essential enzyme cytochrome c oxidase). Because
of absorption problems of metallic copper, injections of copper are useful.
Serum and plasma copper increase 100 % in pregnant women and women using
oral contraceptives. Serum copper levels are also elevated during acute
infections, liver disease and pellegra (niacin deficiency).
Accumulations of copper in the cornea form Kayser-Fleischer rings.
Fe - Iron is found in igneous rocks at
56,300 ppm; shale at 47,200 ppm; sandstone at 9,800 ppm and limestone at
3,800 ppm; fresh water at 0.67 ppm; sea water at 0.01 ppm; soils at 38,000
ppm (iron content is responsible for most soil color); iron is most available
in acid soil and vailability is greatly determined by bacterial activity
in the soil; marine plants at 700 ppm(very high in plankton); land plants
at 140 ppm; marine animals at 400 ppm (high in the blood of annelids (worms),
echinoderms, fish and in eggs of cephalad mollusks); essential to all land
animals.
Boussingault in the 1860's was the first to regard iron
as an essential nutrient for animals. During the 1920's an animal model
for iron deficiency research was created by feeding rats on an exclusive
milk diet.
In a healthy adult human there is 3 to 5 gms of iron. The newborn infant
has nearly double the amount of iron per kg than adults. Sixty to 70 percent
of tissue iron is classed as essential or functional iron, and 30 to 40
Percent as storage iron. The essential iron is found as an integral part
of hemoglobin, myogobin (muscle oxygen storing pigments - particularly
rich in deep diving animals such as whales, walrus, seals, etc.) and respiratory
enzymes involved with intracellular oxidation-reduction processes.
Functions of iron include cofactor and activator of enzymes and metallo
enzymes; respiratory pigments (hemoglobin - iron is to hemoglobin what
Mg is to chlorophyll)and electron transfer for utilization of oxygen.
Iron is stored in bone marrow and liver (i.e.- hemosiderin and ferritin).
Heme iron from meat is 10 percent available for absorption while iron from
fresh plant sources are only one percent available because of phytates.
Absorption takes place primarily in the duodenum where the intestinal environment
is still acid.
Experimental evidence shows very clearly that "pica" is
a specific sign of iron deficiency. Pica can drive children and adults
to eat ice (pagophagia), dirt (geophagia) or lead paint.
Iron deficiency results from pregnancy, menstruation, chronic infections,
hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid from salt restricted diets), chronic
diarrhea, chronic bleeding (i.e.- cancer, ulcers, parasites, etc.) and
impaired absorption (i.e. high fat diets, celiac disease, etc.).
Symptoms of iron deficiency include listlessness, fatigue, heart palpitations
on exertion, reduced cognition, memory deficits, sore tongue, angular stomatitis,
dysphagia, hypochromic microcytic anemia.
Stomach hydrochloric acid is required for optimal absorption of iron,
ascorbic acid increases absorption of iron, clays and phytates decrease
absorption of iron, The RDA of 18 mg per day as metallic iron is very low
if one is a vegan eating high fiber, high phytate plant material.
Iron can cause cirrhosis of the liver, fibrosis of the pancreas, diabetes
and heart failure - these diseases are not direct affects of iron per se,
but rather the increased iron causes increased needs for selenium, copper,
zinc, etc.
