Description VIDEO
Collagen synthesis
Copper is essential for the body to manufacture and maintain collagen, the structural protein that comprises most of our tissues---including skin, joint cartilage, muscles, bones and blood vessels. While fish and bovine-sourced collagen supplements are a popular trend, they aren’t a suitable way for vegans to support collagen synthesis. There’s also no guarantee this collagen will be fully digested, absorbed and used for one specific purpose or area of the body. That’s because collagen must be broken down into individual amino acids by the digestive system and then reassembled correctly before it can be used for connective tissue functions.
Oxygen utilization
While it’s true that the iron in hemoglobin is key for carrying oxygen around the body, without adequate copper, iron supplementation alone may not restore ferritin and hemoglobin levels. If you’re low in copper, taking lots of iron can mean continued fatigue, light-headedness and poor stamina if you’re anemic, leaving you wondering if your iron supplement is any good. In fact, individuals with adequate ferritin who are still not able to build hemoglobin are usually copper-deficient.
Immunity
Your immune system depends on copper. Unfortunately, the importance of copper has been overlooked and overshadowed by its antagonist, zinc.
When we supplement large doses of zinc (i.e. 50 mg or higher) in the interest of supporting a health condition, it competes with dietary copper for uptake into the bloodstream and can result in copper deficiency. This will negatively affect oxygen utilization and immune function. In addition, zinc-induced copper deficiency (sometimes also called zinc dominance) can lead to neutropenia---a low white blood cell count, specifically of neutrophils. In this situation, there’s a decreased resistance to bacterial infections---with reduced ability to fight them off once they’ve started.
