Author
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Klevay, Leslie |
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Submitted to: Trace Elements in Man and Animals (TEMA)
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 5/19/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The Western diet so closely associated with risk of ischemic heart disease frequently is low in copper. Sullivan, among others, has developed the concept that higher body burdens of iron thought to be normal by many may, in fact, increase heart disease risk. Thirty male, weanling rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain were assigned to two groups matched by mean body weight. All were fed a purified diet (Klevay, Am J Clin Nutr 26: 1060, 1973) based on sucrose (62%), egg white protein (20%) and corn oil (10%) and contained all nutrients essential for rats. Dietary copper and zinc were increased to 2.5 and by 13.0 ug/g, respectively, by addition of finely ground cupric sulfate and zinc acetate. Half the animals were fed the diet with the usual amount of iron (dietary iron 217 ug/g); the other half received the diet with 35 ug iron/g. After 14 weeks, higher iron induced (mean +/- SE) decreased plasma copper (1.1 +/- 0.16 vs 1.5 +/- 0.07 ug/ml, p < 0.04) and decreased cardiac copper (17.3 +/- 1.2 vs 22.0 +/- 0.4 ug/dry g, p <0.003) (by atomic absorption spectrometry). The increase in plasma cholesterol (by fluorometry) was insignificant (166 vs 155 mg/dl). Heart weight and liver copper were unaffected. In a similar experiment with dietary copper at 2.0 ug/g, higher iron induced hypercholesterolemia (p <0.02) and cardiac enlargement (p < 0.005) at 6 weeks. Higher dietary copper may be protective against iron overload; however, some of the harmful effects of excess iron are mediated by induction of relative copper deficiency. |
