The importance of COPPER, where to find this mineral in your food intake and how to understand if you have a deficiency and enhance the absorption of it

 Let's start by explaining the reason why this mineral is important:

- Is considered one of the "brain food" due to its role in the daily brain activities especially oxygen consumption and transport

- Supports our immune system and metabolism again in the daily activities that our body has to maintain 

- It helps to maintain healthy skin tissues and collagen production 

- Antioxidant action so it reduces the free radicals production 

Is not produced by the body so we have to introduce that with our food intake

When the storage in our body is not enough, we might experience some deficiency symptoms 

Deficiency symptoms:

- Fatigue caused by a reduced energy production which copper is directly involved

- Weak immune system with more frequent sicknesses and to be more sensitive to cold temperatures  

- Learning and memory difficulties, this mineral is involved in the energy production in the whole body, included the brain 

- Premature grey hair and pale skin as a consequence of reduced collagen and melanin 

How to increase your copper intake through diet:

Here some of  highest in copper ingredients for each portion: 

- Beef Liver 30 gr: around 4mg 

- Cooked Lobster 140 gr: around 1.5 mg

- Lamb Liver 30 gr: around 1 mg

- Firm Tofu 200 gr: around 1 mg 

- Dried Shiitake Mushrooms 15 gr: around 0.8 mg

- Sesame sees 25 gr: around 0.7 mg

- Oats 150 gr: around 0.5 mg 

The  recommended dose is between 0.9 mg to 10 mg as a upper limit  to prevent toxic dosages 

- Consider to use a copper water bottle, which naturally gives you this mineral and makes the water alkaline to reduce the acidity and balance

How to increase the Copper absorption 

Is not just about having the right amount, we need to make sure that what we eat is actually absorbed otherwise those numbers above will be drastically reduced 

Here some tips to increase the absorption:

- Having these ingredients cited above with protein in your meal helps to increase the absorption thanks to the production of specific enzymes in your body

- Same thing for soluble Carbohydrates so in this case not high fibre insoluble carbs 

On the other side there are certain foods that inhibit the absorption so is not recommend to have this in the same meal with an ingredient high in Copper:

- Simple sugars like Glucose and Fructose

- Ascorbic acid so Lemon/citrus fruit in the first place

Supplements could be a valid alternative if you can't manage a good level with only your diet, in that case having a blood test to evaluate which supplement could be the better choice depending on the singular amount in each brand, is the best solution.