Copper is not simply an attractive material for decorative cookware or jewelry. Like many other metals, it's also a mineral used by your body for many important functions. Your health can be significantly impaired by either too much or too little copper, so it's important to know how much of it you're getting in your diet.
Copper in Your Body
Writers sometimes speak of blood as tasting like copper, and well it should. Copper is one of the key ingredients of your bloodstream, helping your body move oxygen. Copper is a component of over 200 enzymes in your body, Copper helps build collagen, a connective tissue that's part of your muscles, bones and capillaries. About 1/3 of your body's supply of copper is concentrated in your brain and liver, where it is vital to the function of those organs. The balance is divided between bones, muscles and other tissues.
Foods High in Copper
Given that the liver is one of your body's major storehouses of copper, it's not surprising that eating liver is a good way to increase your dietary intake of this mineral. Other organ meats are also high in copper, though not to the same extent. Oysters and other shellfish, cereals and whole grains, green leafy vegetables such as kale, dried beans, good quality chocolate and various nuts are high in copper too. None of these are especially rare or difficult to incorporate into your diet, though encouraging your family to eat liver might be harder than encouraging them to eat chocolate.
Copper Deficiency
If your body is low on copper, the deficiency will show up in a number of ways. Copper is crucial to your body's use of iron, so anemia might be a symptom. Iron in your blood helps keep you oxygenated and warm, so you might find yourself feeling cold. Your bone density will drop, so fractures and osteoporosis can be warning signs. Low white blood cell count is a symptom, and it impairs the function of your immune system. You might also experience irregular heartbeat, and thyroid or digestive problems. Zinc or iron supplements can interfere with copper absorption.
Excessive Copper
Having too much copper in your food, or your food and other sources in combination, can also have unfortunate effects on many of the body's functions. It can cause nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, as well as headaches and dizziness. It's difficult to eat enough foods to experience copper toxicity, but if your drinking water is contaminated with copper through the groundwater or copper pipes, the combination of food and water might make you ill. In extreme cases copper toxicity can cause heart problems, jaundice or even a coma, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Copper
- Northwestern University: Copper
- "The Journal of Nutrition"; Zinc and Copper Intakes and Their Major Food Sources for Older Adults in the 1994–96 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII); Jun Ma, et al.; 2000
- USDA National Nutritional Database for Standard Reference, Release 17: Copper Content of Selected Foods
- New Hampshire Department of Environmental Health Services; Copper: Health Information Summary; October 2005
