New research has indicated that a life time consumption of excessive copper can play significant role in developing Alzheimer’s disease.
A team of researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center in the United States unveiled the dark side of copper and its affection on the body.
The study on mice shows that a steady diet of copper Å“interfered with the brain’s shielding, the blood brain barrier.”
Copper contributes to initiating and fueling the abnormal protein (beta amyloid) build-up and brain inflammations that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, according to the report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It is clear that, over time, copper’s cumulative effect is to impair the systems by which amyloid beta is removed from the brain,” said the study leader Dr. Rashid Deane.
“The key will be striking the right balance between too much and too little copper consumption,” Deane said.
Commenting on the recent findings, the professor of bioinorganic chemistry at Keele University, Chris Exley, expressed his opposite idea.
“In our most recent work we found evidence of lower total brain copper with ageing and Alzheimer’s. We also found that lower brain copper correlated with higher deposition of beta amyloid in brain tissue,” Exley said.
“While the findings present clues to how copper could contribute to features of Alzheimer’s in mice, the results will need replicating in further studies,” said Dr. Eric Karran, from Alzheimer’s Research in UK.
Å“It is too early to know how normal exposure to copper could be influencing the development or progression of Alzheimer’s in people,” he emphasized.
The experts stress that more research is required to learn the true role that copper might play in the brain.
Copper is found in a wide range of the foods we eat, including red meat, shellfish, nuts and many fruits and vegetables, as well as in many vitamin supplements.
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Republished from: Press TV