Copper helps support cognitive functions that can help prevent Alzheimer’s, experts say, with food sources including shellfish and mushrooms
When you hear the word copper, you may think of the malleable reddish-orange metal used in electrical wiring, plumbing, construction and jewellery that tends to turn your skin green.
But you may not be as familiar with dietary copper, an essential trace element. The body needs it in small amounts to function properly.
“Just like Goldilocks’ porridge, when it comes to copper, we need it ‘just right’,” she says: not too little, not too much.
Maintaining this delicate balance, known as copper homeostasis, is something our bodies work incredibly hard to do, she adds.
