Copper (was Re: Weeds)

[Guest guest]

Marla, you wrote --

<<I later raised the levels slightly in the diet after reading information from

Japan that dark haired people needed six times more copper than those with fair

hair (I ran predominantly black British Alpines). " Hmm. I have jet black hair.

Maybe I should be wearing copper bracelets? I prefer silver. (>>>>

two questions --

-- are there references out there re copper needs of dark haired people?

-- as silver (sterling) is actually an amalgam of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper,

would any of the copper be absorbed through the skin? Brass contains mostly

copper too!

TIA

Dedy

[Guest guest]

Hi Dedy:

>

> two questions --

> -- are there references out there re copper needs of dark haired people?

### Colbey only mentioned that it was a Japanese study done in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, no specific reference to the actual study. I tried a quick

search on the net for it at one time, but didn't come up with anything.

However, in essence, Colbey did his own study using his goats. He wrote on

page 163 that, " I have found those ratios to be right in dark and light

goats. If there are any full black goats in the herd, it will be noticed

that they often suffer from the above-mentioned conditions [anemia, poor

fleece, worms, foot rot, cow pox, scabby mouth, orf, steely wool, ring worm,

foot scald, proud flesh, es disease, brucellosis, etc.] before the

lighter colored counterparts. As long as dolomite is included in the

ration, copper toxicity in goats does not seem to occur.

I noticed that in Prescription for Healing, Balch mentioned that copper is

involved with hair and skin coloring. (Page 24) So it seems that there must

be some study out there that reveals a link with copper to dark and light

hair. Balch writes that osteoporosis is one of the first signs of copper

deficiency. There apparently are many other signs such as anemia, baldness,

diarrhea, etc.

> -- as silver (sterling) is actually an amalgam of 92.5% silver and 7.5%

copper, would any of the copper be absorbed through the skin? Brass contains

mostly copper too!

### I suppose it's possible to get some of the copper, but a higher

percentage of copper bracelets would probably be better. Then again too

much copper is toxic, so we need to be sure not to overdo it. It seems to

me that getting our copper requirements from whole food sources would be the

best. Colbey wrote that " When I was investigating why copper shortfalls

were so great, a researcher at Monash who was studying the mineral told me

that copper is inhibited virtually 100 percent by superphosphate, so putting

out super and copper is not an option--getting the soil into balance is. "

It seems to me that likewise, getting the body into balance is probably

better than just supplementing with copper. (Even in the form of bracelets)

Marla

[Guest guest]

--- In , " Marla " <talithakumi@e...>

wrote:

>

> ### Colbey only mentioned that it was a Japanese study done in the

1960s.

> Unfortunately, no specific reference to the actual study. I tried

a quick

> search on the net for it at one time, but didn't come up with

anything.

> However, in essence, Colbey did his own study using his goats. He

wrote on

> page 163 that, " I have found those ratios to be right in dark and

light

> goats.

Copper is a cofactor for the enzyme that makes the melanin pigment.

Also there's a paper showing that black cats need more than the

minimum requirement of either phenylalanine or tyrosine (aromatic

amino acids) in certain processed diets to maintain their black

pigment because tyrosine changed to melanin.