• Lorne Brown

    Member
    April 11, 2022 at 7:47 pm

    This question came up during module 3 live webinar and I asked one of my clinic’s NDs her thoughts

    Question : there’s a newer school of thought that I see emerging from functional nutrition that discusses iron deficiency as actually a copper deficiency? I’m trying to discern my own stance because I have seen that iron supplementation can help certain situations but others think that it might help short term but actually causes more damage long term. This is because copper regulates iron metabolism. Thoughts on this? All roads lead back to beef liver 😂

    Answer: I know some suggest that copper can cause anemia, similar to iron. But iron supplementation would be based on ferritin or iron studies which show low levels, whereas copper would be ceruloplasmin.

    So I base supplementation on those parameters. I know that copper and zinc compete for absorption so zinc deficiency so that’s something I’m mindful of when supplementing.

    Certainly, supplementing iron if you dont’ need to can be harmful bc you want to avoid iron overload, but if you’ve tested and they’re deficient, then it’s indicated.

    I’m not familiar or aware of the relationship this person has shared in her question.