Right now a lot of people are taking a high amount of zinc, which helps to support our immune function. If we take high amounts of zinc over a long period of time what can happen is that zinc can start to deplete our copper stores because zinc competes for absorption with copper. We need both of these micronutrients in our diet.
With copper deficiencies we see neurological dysfunction, muscle weakness, anemia.
When we are taking high doses of zinc, we want to make sure we are pairing it with copper. Either you want a supplement that contains both zinc and copper or you want to make sure you are taking in foods that have high copper content. And some of those foods that are high in copper are nuts, seeds, green vegetables, shitake mushrooms. Foods that are naturally high in zinc include, meats, shellfish, eggs, nuts, seeds. These are foods to be consuming to ensure we have enough zinc and copper in the body.
We want to ensure that we are not inadvertently causing a copper deficiency within the body.
Recommended: 15mg zinc: 1mg copper
