Author
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Klevay, Leslie |
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Submitted to: New York Academy of Sciences
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/7/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Sixty percent of 849 daily Western diets contain less than 1.5 mg of copper, the lower limit of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences estimated safe and adequate intake for adults. One third of these diets contain amounts of copper proved insufficient in depletion experiments with more than 30 men and women. Proliferation of smooth muscle cells, foam cells and excessive thrombosis are among the earlier changes in the human atherosclerosis that lead to abdominal aneurysms and ischemic heart disease. This pathology is found in experimental copper deficiency along with aneurysms of the coronary and other arteries. Abdominal aortic aneurysms in people have low activity of Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase which depends on copper for activity. Classical methods of producing atherosclerosis in animals such as feeding cholesterol to rabbits or cholesterol plus cholic acid to other species increases the need for copper and probably decreases the activity of lysyl oxidase, a copper- dependent enzyme needed for synthesis of normal collagen, elastin and proteoglycans. Other mechanisms by which copper deficiency contributes to atherosclerosis involve glucose intolerance, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension. It seems likely that dietary copper is important in the etiology and pathophysiology of both atherosclerosis and aneurysms. |
