Re: 2 Year Update on Copper Detox

Feo,

You're right about the connection between copper and thyroid, but what concerns me is that so many of us are lead to believe that we're "copper toxic" when in fact we are copper deficient. According to Dr. Ray Peat (whose protocol has gotten my health back 90% in 3 months):


One such essential nutrient is copper. Copper is marginilized or even villified in the blogosphere, but after a longtime of believing otherwise, Dr. Peat's context allowed me to view copper from another angle. Here is a quote from Dr. Peat's book, Generative Energy, about the importance of copper:

"I think the chronic loss of copper accounts for the obvious features of aging, such as the loss of elasticity of the skin, hair, and (in Parkinson's disease) substantia nigra, and for the decrease in respiratory capacity. Copper, which can be poorly absorbed because of hypothyroidism or excess estrogen, is critical for the production of cytochrome C oxidase, the crucial last step in the electron transport chain, increasing cellular respiration and producing carbon dioxide.
Cytochrome c oxidsase is activated by thyroid hormone (T3).
Copper, which is the co-factor for the cytochrome C oxidase enzyme, activated by thyroid, is essential. Thyroid hormone increases the body's ability to assimilate copper.

So you see, the key is not to try and feverishly detox ghost copper (which you may in fact be deficient in due to poor assimilation and low metabolism) but to boost your metabolism, get your thyroid running properly so that the T3 can take care of the copper.

The "copper detox" is useless with a poor functioning thyroid/adrenal gland. Its like asking a 3 legged horse to run the Kentucky derby. of course you're going to feel worse!

Then furthermore:

"Cytochrome oxidase is one of the enzymes damaged by stress and activated or restored by thyroid, and progesterone. It's a copper enzyme, so it's likely to be damaged by excess iron.

So by limiting copper and eating the high meat NB paleo diet, you are overloading on iron and depriving yourself of copper, which is needed by thyroid to create CO to increase cellular respiration and fire up the metabolism.

No wonder so many of you doing NB feel worse after depriving yourselves of copper for so long. I'm gonna have to agree with Craig here saying that it should not take so long to "detox metals". A proper working metabolism powers everything, including our abilities to detox. Getting that back online is the key. The body handles what it needs to if all systems are online.