How You Get Your Copper Makes a Difference
“Organic” copper is the kind you get from the food you eat; it’s bound to other elements like carbon and hydrogen. But there’s also “inorganic” copper – copper in its elemental form, not bound to anything else. When inorganic copper is in your bloodstream, it’s called “free copper.” And it’s NOT good. People with Alzheimer’s disease have a much higher level of free copper. The higher the level, the worse their cognitive decline. Where does inorganic copper come from? It comes mainly from two sources. One is drinking water that flows through copper pipes. Numerous studies show that adding even tiny amounts of inorganic copper to drinking water––as little as one-tenth of what the Environmental Protection Agency says is safe––greatly contributes to symptoms found in Alzheimer’s patients.3 And the other source? The copper found in multi-vitamins. So it appears that taking a multi-vitamin with a glass of tap water may contribute to Alzheimer’s.But There’s Another Factor That Makes It Worse
The results of a six-year, 3,718-person study done in a Chicago community were downright shocking.4 The study participants who consumed higher amounts of inorganic copper and who also ate higher amounts of saturated and trans fats suffered a much faster cognitive decline. And the more copper they consumed, the faster their brain functioning went downhill. The brains of people in the top quintile of copper consumption – the one-fifth of the group who ingested the most -- declined at a rate that was 143% faster than people with the lowest one-fifth. In other words, their brains aged 19 years over the course of the six-year study. That’s equivalent to an entire generation! Now, scientists need to do more research to confirm that the linkage is cause and effect and not merely coincidence, but to me, the evidence suggests it would be smart to make some simple changes in our habits. First of all, if you drink water from your faucet and don’t know if you have copper pipes, you can get your water tested. Or you can just switch to filtered water, which is what I recommend. Second, don’t take a multivitamin that contains copper. Many of them do. Check the labels. Finally, you should completely eliminate trans fats from your food choices (which I suspect most of my readers have done already). Trans fats are mostly found in processed foods, because they have a longer shelf than do natural fats. Trans fats are modified fats not found in nature. Instead, up your intake of healthy fats, such as nuts, fish oil, seeds like flax and chia, and avocado.5 These healthy fats have been shown to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease.- https://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2016-facts-and-figures.pdf
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2014.00092/full
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3899576/
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/792043?alert=article
- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/783743
