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Most diets contain enough copper (2-5mg daily) to prevent a deficiency and not enough to cause toxicity.
Causes & Development
Copper toxicity is usually due to:- excessive supplementation
- the increasingly common problem of low levels of zinc in the diet
- contaminated food and drinking water due to contact with metallic copper
- external exposures such as a copper IUD or accidental agricultural overspray
- elevated levels of estrogens.
Since copper and zinc compete with each other for absorption in the gut, copper toxicity has been the subject of greater concern in recent years. Acidic water such as rain water, left standing in copper plumbing pipes, can be a source of toxicity when consumed. In prolonged contact with copper cooking utensils, an acidic food or beverage can dissolve milligram quantities of copper, sufficient to cause acute toxicity symptoms such as self-limited nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Complications
If as little as 2gm of a copper salt are ingested, usually with suicidal intent, the resulting copper-induced hemolytic anemia and kidney damage are generally fatal.
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