Copper-Zinc Imbalance : Unrecognized Consequence of Plant-Based Diets and a Contributor to Chronic Fatigue
By Laurie Warner, MA, CNC
A commonly reported consequence of vegetarian or vegan diets, or even diets that rely too heavily on plant foods, is chronic fatigue. Many sufferers subsequently embrace the principles enumerated by Weston Price, adopting a diet containing more nutrient-dense animal foods and fat; however, the fatigue often persists, even after considerable time on the new diet.
While Americans have been receiving a broad education on the nutritional value of plant foods, evidence has accumulated to indicate that diets that rely too heavily on plant food sources have special problems of their own. Those of us interested in traditional nutrition have become familiar with some of these, including fatty acid imbalances, B6 and B12 deficiencies, and untreated phytates in whole grains, legumes and nuts. As we continue to delve into these areas, the seriousness of these dietary imbalances continues to emerge.
Disruption of the copper-zinc ratio is an overlooked contributor to intractable fatigue that follows excessive reliance on a plant-based diet. The result is toxic accumulation of copper in tissues and critical depletion of zinc through excretion. This condition usually goes unrecognized because copper levels in the blood can remain normal. Also, most doctors are unprepared to meet with extreme zinc deficiency and its baffling effects on many systems of the body. Hair mineral analysis, competently used, is the tool which can unravel the complexities of this growing problem.
In particular, it is becoming clear that plant-based diets, and lighter diets generally, cause serious nutrient imbalances and long-term damage to digestion and cellular metabolism that are not easily corrected. This is of consequence for us in the traditional foods movement because we are asking people to return to higher density foods they may not have eaten for many years. Proper physiologic balance can be restored, but the period of transition in some cases may be longer and more difficult than we have anticipated.
An Unrecognized Danger
This article explores a major hurdle to dietary recovery, which has remained little-known, although an accessible book by Ann Louise Gittleman, MS, introduced the topic in 1999.1 The fact is that the micronutrient copper is widely available in unrefined foods,2 but the mineral zinc, needed in larger amounts to balance copper, can only reliably be obtained in optimum amounts from land-based animal foods, in particular eggs and red meats.3 These of course are among the foods that have been most stubbornly attacked by mainstream nutrition authorities. They are also among the foods lacto-vegetarians and others who have conscientiously adopted light diets have the most difficulty in reintroducing.
It is tragic that Americans who have been inspired to adopt healthier diets have been so harmfully misled by the anti-animal foods dogma, often against their better instincts. I myself was led into this trap in the mid 1970s, and have only found my way out of it in the last few years. Although I found the Weston A. Price Foundation material when it first appeared, and benefited from many of its suggestions, I was unable to consistently expand my diet, or even tolerate any fat, until I learned to recognize and apply the lessons of the copper-zinc imbalance. In fact, this imbalance could very well have killed me.
Controlling Copper
A brief survey of copper/zinc imbalance will show why this condition can be so serious. Copper is an essential trace mineral, but it is needed only in minute amounts. It works in a paired relationship with zinc, sometimes in complement and sometimes opposing. Copper is present in most foods, and is also absorbed from the environment.4,5 When zinc is present in abundance, and when there is enough quality protein available to bind it,6 copper can be handled freely, and the excess can be readily excreted trough the bile.7,8
When the diet is lacking in zinc and protein, however—and in fats to promote bile production —use of high-copper foods, and environmental copper, primarily ingested through our water, promote buildup of copper in our tissues.9 The late Carl C. Pfeiffer PhD, MD, formerly of the Brain-Bio Center in Princeton, New Jersey, has provided us with the most comprehensive overview of nutritional problems associated with copper and zinc in his classic study Mental and Elemental Nutrients.10 As he succinctly puts it, "Deficiency of zinc accentuates copper excess."11
Here we have a classic dilemma of the medical flight from traditional diets. In lighter diets generally, and in heavily plant-based diets in particular, zinc is sharply reduced relative to copper,12 protein is curtailed, and fat is provided scantily at best. The excess copper that builds up in tissues is in unbound, inorganic form,13 highly immobile and creates a low-level toxicity that interferes with many body systems. Particularly affected are the liver and digestion,14 which are already hampered by increasing deficiency of zinc. As bile function and digestive vigor decline, difficulty with meat and fat develops. Legions of light-diet and vegetarian adherents feel justified in their choices because heavier food becomes unpalatable to them.15
The Grain Connection
We can quickly recognize a connection here that is particularly relevant to traditional foods nutrition. The copper-zinc ratio in grains is disturbed by refining.16 This ratio tends to be low in plant foods anyway,17 and is shifted further in favor of copper by the refining process.
In whole grains, as we know, phytates interfere with zinc absorption, so the net benefit from unrefined grains is always problematic, and probably very low in most cases, while copper, which is less affected by phytates than zinc,18 gains again in the copper-zinc ratio.
This loss of nutrients in grains, though serious, seems to have had less effect in past generations when much of the country still lived rurally and meat and eggs were liberally used.19 Current ideology, however, has shifted the burden of the diet to grains and other phytate-bearing foods and most people concerned with nutritional values of their food today have come to believe that these foods are reliable sources of both protein20 and zinc,21 resulting in poor protein nutrition, zinc deficiencies and build up of excess copper.
Modern Conditions
Even in 1975, Pfeiffer considered zinc status in most Americans to be borderline at best.22 After twenty-five years of vegetarianism and plant-based diets, it is doubtful our status today is even that optimistic. Too many other factors also work to increase copper and work against zinc. Zinc galvanized pipes have been replaced by copper pipes in many areas, which can be etched by slightly acidic water supplies.23 Birth control pills and other medications increase the retention of copper.24 Blanching of vegetables before commercial freezing removes zinc and many trace minerals,25 while copper is added to many multivitamins.26
There are numerous other factors contributing to this imbalance, but most devastatingly zinc is lost from our bodies every day when we are under stress.27 The more stress, the higher the losses, and yet zinc is needed in large amounts by our stress-resisting adrenal glands.28 When we are zinc-deficient our innate coping resources can start to unravel, and the grind of everyday stress can seem overwhelming.
Source
By Laurie Warner, MA, CNC
A commonly reported consequence of vegetarian or vegan diets, or even diets that rely too heavily on plant foods, is chronic fatigue. Many sufferers subsequently embrace the principles enumerated by Weston Price, adopting a diet containing more nutrient-dense animal foods and fat; however, the fatigue often persists, even after considerable time on the new diet.
While Americans have been receiving a broad education on the nutritional value of plant foods, evidence has accumulated to indicate that diets that rely too heavily on plant food sources have special problems of their own. Those of us interested in traditional nutrition have become familiar with some of these, including fatty acid imbalances, B6 and B12 deficiencies, and untreated phytates in whole grains, legumes and nuts. As we continue to delve into these areas, the seriousness of these dietary imbalances continues to emerge.
Disruption of the copper-zinc ratio is an overlooked contributor to intractable fatigue that follows excessive reliance on a plant-based diet. The result is toxic accumulation of copper in tissues and critical depletion of zinc through excretion. This condition usually goes unrecognized because copper levels in the blood can remain normal. Also, most doctors are unprepared to meet with extreme zinc deficiency and its baffling effects on many systems of the body. Hair mineral analysis, competently used, is the tool which can unravel the complexities of this growing problem.
In particular, it is becoming clear that plant-based diets, and lighter diets generally, cause serious nutrient imbalances and long-term damage to digestion and cellular metabolism that are not easily corrected. This is of consequence for us in the traditional foods movement because we are asking people to return to higher density foods they may not have eaten for many years. Proper physiologic balance can be restored, but the period of transition in some cases may be longer and more difficult than we have anticipated.
An Unrecognized Danger
This article explores a major hurdle to dietary recovery, which has remained little-known, although an accessible book by Ann Louise Gittleman, MS, introduced the topic in 1999.1 The fact is that the micronutrient copper is widely available in unrefined foods,2 but the mineral zinc, needed in larger amounts to balance copper, can only reliably be obtained in optimum amounts from land-based animal foods, in particular eggs and red meats.3 These of course are among the foods that have been most stubbornly attacked by mainstream nutrition authorities. They are also among the foods lacto-vegetarians and others who have conscientiously adopted light diets have the most difficulty in reintroducing.
It is tragic that Americans who have been inspired to adopt healthier diets have been so harmfully misled by the anti-animal foods dogma, often against their better instincts. I myself was led into this trap in the mid 1970s, and have only found my way out of it in the last few years. Although I found the Weston A. Price Foundation material when it first appeared, and benefited from many of its suggestions, I was unable to consistently expand my diet, or even tolerate any fat, until I learned to recognize and apply the lessons of the copper-zinc imbalance. In fact, this imbalance could very well have killed me.
Controlling Copper
A brief survey of copper/zinc imbalance will show why this condition can be so serious. Copper is an essential trace mineral, but it is needed only in minute amounts. It works in a paired relationship with zinc, sometimes in complement and sometimes opposing. Copper is present in most foods, and is also absorbed from the environment.4,5 When zinc is present in abundance, and when there is enough quality protein available to bind it,6 copper can be handled freely, and the excess can be readily excreted trough the bile.7,8
When the diet is lacking in zinc and protein, however—and in fats to promote bile production —use of high-copper foods, and environmental copper, primarily ingested through our water, promote buildup of copper in our tissues.9 The late Carl C. Pfeiffer PhD, MD, formerly of the Brain-Bio Center in Princeton, New Jersey, has provided us with the most comprehensive overview of nutritional problems associated with copper and zinc in his classic study Mental and Elemental Nutrients.10 As he succinctly puts it, "Deficiency of zinc accentuates copper excess."11
Here we have a classic dilemma of the medical flight from traditional diets. In lighter diets generally, and in heavily plant-based diets in particular, zinc is sharply reduced relative to copper,12 protein is curtailed, and fat is provided scantily at best. The excess copper that builds up in tissues is in unbound, inorganic form,13 highly immobile and creates a low-level toxicity that interferes with many body systems. Particularly affected are the liver and digestion,14 which are already hampered by increasing deficiency of zinc. As bile function and digestive vigor decline, difficulty with meat and fat develops. Legions of light-diet and vegetarian adherents feel justified in their choices because heavier food becomes unpalatable to them.15
The Grain Connection
We can quickly recognize a connection here that is particularly relevant to traditional foods nutrition. The copper-zinc ratio in grains is disturbed by refining.16 This ratio tends to be low in plant foods anyway,17 and is shifted further in favor of copper by the refining process.
In whole grains, as we know, phytates interfere with zinc absorption, so the net benefit from unrefined grains is always problematic, and probably very low in most cases, while copper, which is less affected by phytates than zinc,18 gains again in the copper-zinc ratio.
This loss of nutrients in grains, though serious, seems to have had less effect in past generations when much of the country still lived rurally and meat and eggs were liberally used.19 Current ideology, however, has shifted the burden of the diet to grains and other phytate-bearing foods and most people concerned with nutritional values of their food today have come to believe that these foods are reliable sources of both protein20 and zinc,21 resulting in poor protein nutrition, zinc deficiencies and build up of excess copper.
Modern Conditions
Even in 1975, Pfeiffer considered zinc status in most Americans to be borderline at best.22 After twenty-five years of vegetarianism and plant-based diets, it is doubtful our status today is even that optimistic. Too many other factors also work to increase copper and work against zinc. Zinc galvanized pipes have been replaced by copper pipes in many areas, which can be etched by slightly acidic water supplies.23 Birth control pills and other medications increase the retention of copper.24 Blanching of vegetables before commercial freezing removes zinc and many trace minerals,25 while copper is added to many multivitamins.26
There are numerous other factors contributing to this imbalance, but most devastatingly zinc is lost from our bodies every day when we are under stress.27 The more stress, the higher the losses, and yet zinc is needed in large amounts by our stress-resisting adrenal glands.28 When we are zinc-deficient our innate coping resources can start to unravel, and the grind of everyday stress can seem overwhelming.
Source