By Dr Joel Wallach
CHAPTER 11
RARE EARTHS:
Their secrets of health and longevity
Excerpt
from the Periodic Table of
Metals, Minerals & Rare Earths
Cu - Copper is found
in igneous rocks at 55 ppm; shale at 45 ppm; sandstone at 5ppm;
limestone 4 ppm; fresh water at 0.01 ppm; sea water at 0.003
ppm; soils at 2 to 100 ppm (copper is strongly absorbed by humus;
there are known areas of the world with extreme copper deficiency);
marine plants 11 ppm; land plants 14 ppm; marine animals 4 to
50 ppm ( accumulates in the blood of annelids (worms), crustaceans
and mollusks, especially cephalopods; land animals at 2 to 4
ppm with highest levels in the liver.
Copper is essential to all living
organisms and is a universally important cofactor for many hundreds
of metalloenzynes. Copper deficiency is widespread and appears
in many forms . Copper is required in many physiological functions
(i.e.- RNA, DNA, lysil oxidase cofactor, melanin Production (hair
and skin pigment), electron transfer of oxygen subcellular respiration,
tensile strength of elastic fibers in blood vessels, skin, vertebral
discs, etc.).
Neonatal enzootic
ataxia (sway back, lamkruis) was recognized as a clinical entity
in 1937 as a copper deficiency in pregnant sheep. Copper supplements
prevented the syndrome which was characterized by demyelination
of the cerebellum and spinal cord. Cavitation or gelatinous lesions
of the cerebral white matter, chromatolysis, nerve cell death
and myelin aplasia (failure to form). These are all changes identical
with human cerebral palsy.
Famous
people affected or dying of an obvious copper deficiency include
Albert Einstein (ruptured cerebral aneurysms), Paavo Aerola (ruptured
cerebral aneurysms), Conway Twitty (ruptured abdominal aorta
aneurysm), George and Barbara Bush (thyroid disease, white hair)
- four to six of every 100 Americans autopsied have died of a
ruptured aneurysm, an additional 40 Percent have aneurysms that
had not yet ruptured.
The average well-nourished
adult human body contains between 80 and 120 mg of copper. Concentrations
are higher in the brain, liver, heart and kidneys. Bone and muscle
have lower percentages of copper but contain 50 percent of the
body total copper reserves because of their mass. It is of interest
that the greatest concentration of copper is found in the newborn
and their daily requirement is 0.08 mg/kg, toddlers require 0.04
mg/kg and adults only 0.03 mg/ kg.
The average plasma
copper for women ranges from 87 to 153 mg/dl and for men it ranges
from 89 to 137 mg/dl; about 90 percent of the plasma copper is
found in ceruloplasmin.
Copper functions
as a co-factor and activator of numerous cuproenzymes that are
involved in the development (deficiency of Cu in the pregnant
female results in congenital defects of the heart, i.e.-Kawasaki
Disease and brain - i.e.- cerebral palsy and hypoplasia of the
cerebellum) and maintenance of the cardiovascular system (deficiency
results in reduced lysyl oxidase activity causing a reduction
in conversion of pro elastin to elastin causing a decrease in
tinsel strength of arterial walls and rup tured aneurysms and
skeletal integrity (deficiency results in a specific type of
arthritis of the young in the form of spurs in the bones growth
plate); deficiency can result in myelin defects; deficiency results
in anemia; and poor hair keratinization and loss of hair color.
Neutropenia (reduced numbers of neutophillic WBC) and leukopenia
(reduced total WBC) are the earliest indicators of copper deficiency
in infants; infants whose diets are primarily cows milk frequently
develop anemia; iron storage disease can result from chronic
copper deficiency.
Menkes' Kinky
Hair Syndrome is thought to be a sex-linked recessive defect
of copper absorption. The affected infants exibit retarded growth,
defective keratin formation and loss of hair pigment, low body
temperature, degeneration and fracture of aortic elastin (aneurysms),
arthritis in the growth plate of long bones, and a progressive
mental deterioration (brain tissue is totally free of the essential
enzyme cytochrome c oxidase). Because of absorption problems
of metallic copper, injections of copper are useful.
Serum and plasma
copper increase 100 % in pregnant women and women using oral
contraceptives. Serum copper levels are also elevated during
acute infections, liver disease and pellegra (niacin deficiency).
Accumulations
of copper in the cornea form Kayser-Fleischer rings.
Fe - Iron is found in
igneous rocks at 56,300 ppm; shale at 47,200 ppm; sandstone at
9,800 ppm and limestone at 3,800 ppm; fresh water at 0.67 ppm;
sea water at 0.01 ppm; soils at 38,000 ppm (iron content is responsible
for most soil color); iron is most available in acid soil and
vailability is greatly determined by bacterial activity in the
soil; marine plants at 700 ppm(very high in plankton); land plants
at 140 ppm; marine animals at 400 ppm (high in the blood of annelids
(worms), echinoderms, fish and in eggs of cephalad mollusks);
essential to all land animals.
Boussingault
in the 1860's was the first to regard iron as an essential
nutrient for animals. During the 1920's an animal model for iron
deficiency research was created by feeding rats on an exclusive
milk diet.
In a healthy
adult human there is 3 to 5 gms of iron. The newborn infant has
nearly double the amount of iron per kg than adults. Sixty to
70 percent of tissue iron is classed as essential or functional
iron, and 30 to 40 Percent as storage iron. The essential iron
is found as an integral part of hemoglobin, myogobin (muscle
oxygen storing pigments - particularly rich in deep diving animals
such as whales, walrus, seals, etc.) and respiratory enzymes
involved with intracellular oxidation-reduction processes.
Functions of
iron include cofactor and activator of enzymes and metallo enzymes;
respiratory pigments (hemoglobin - iron is to hemoglobin what
Mg is to chlorophyll)and electron transfer for utilization of
oxygen.
Iron is stored
in bone marrow and liver (i.e.- hemosiderin and ferritin). Heme
iron from meat is 10 percent available for absorption while iron
from fresh plant sources are only one percent available because
of phytates. Absorption takes place primarily in the duodenum
where the intestinal environment is still acid.
Experimental
evidence shows very clearly that "pica" is a specific
sign of iron deficiency. Pica can drive children and adults to
eat ice (pagophagia), dirt (geophagia) or lead paint.
Iron deficiency
results from pregnancy, menstruation, chronic infections, hypochlorhydria
(low stomach acid from salt restricted diets), chronic diarrhea,
chronic bleeding (i.e.- cancer, ulcers, parasites, etc.) and
impaired absorption (i.e. high fat diets, celiac disease, etc.).
Symptoms of iron
deficiency include listlessness, fatigue, heart palpitations
on exertion, reduced cognition, memory deficits, sore tongue,
angular stomatitis, dysphagia, hypochromic microcytic anemia.
Stomach hydrochloric
acid is required for optimal absorption of iron, ascorbic acid
increases absorption of iron, clays and phytates decrease absorption
of iron, The RDA of 18 mg per day as metallic iron is very low
if one is a vegan eating high fiber, high phytate plant material.
Iron can cause
cirrhosis of the liver, fibrosis of the pancreas, diabetes and
heart failure - these diseases are not direct affects of iron
per se, but rather the increased iron causes increased needs
for selenium, copper, zinc, etc.
Doctor Joel Wallch
Other articles
from "Rare Earths"
Minerals are essential
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