Products containing copper. Video
Copper is the third most common trace element in the body after iron and zinc. Copper plays an important role in human metabolism and is found in all tissues of the body, but its main storage is the liver.
Copper is an essential mineral that the body needs for the reproduction of bone and connective tissue. Approximately 90% of the copper in human blood is included in ceruloplasmin, a transport protein and enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of minerals, especially iron.
Since copper is essential for the absorption of iron, a deficiency in the body can be triggered by a lack of copper.
Copper is essential for the production of a thyroid hormone called thyroxine, which is essential for the synthesis of phospholipids that make up the myelin sheaths that protect the nerves.
Copper can be beneficial in preventing and treating the following conditions:
- allergy
- baldness
- decubitus
- heart diseases
- leukemia
- periodontal disease
- gastric ulcers
The correct dose of copper is essential for human health. Copper deficiency can lead to osteoporosis, joint pain, decreased immunity, and anemia. Conversely, excessive consumption of copper can provoke seizures, diarrhea and vomiting in the short term, or cause depression, schizophrenia, hypertension, and insomnia in the long term. Copper in large quantities can be toxic. In cases of copper poisoning, medicine recommends taking raw egg white and milk.
The RDA for copper is 2 mg
Products containing copper
Some of the richest foods in copper are liver and oysters. The liver of any animal is rich in vitamins and minerals, but the most copper is in the liver of a calf – 15 mg per 100 g serving. Just one tablespoon of liver pâté can provide 5% of the daily copper intake. Oysters, depending on the type, contain from 2 to 8 mg of copper per 100g serving. Wild oysters contain more copper than those grown on a special farm. There is copper in other seafood – squid and lobster. In 100 g of boiled squid, the copper content is 2,1 mg, in the same portion of lobster – 1,9 mg.
Copper is found in chocolate and cocoa powder. Unsweetened cocoa contains about 4 mg of the mineral per cup, a piece of dark chocolate will provide you with 1 mg of copper.
Seeds and nuts are rich in copper. Dry sesame seeds contain just over 4 mg of copper per 100 g serving, which is about 0,4 mg per tablespoon. Sunflower seeds contain 1,8 mg of copper per 100 g, the same amount of pumpkin seeds will provide you with 1,4 mg of the mineral. A 2-gram serving of nuts contains 3 to 83 mg of copper. If you have ¾ cup of any of the nuts in your daily diet, then you are consuming about XNUMX% of the RDA for copper with them.
There is also a sufficient amount of copper in mushrooms, turnips, asparagus, spinach, barley, beans, lentils, pumpkin and beets, herbs, garlic and fennel. It is not difficult to compose a diet of home food rich in copper, because the element is found in simple and commonly available foods.
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