RARE EARTH'S:
Their secrets of health and longevity
Excerpt from the Periodic Table of
Metals, Minerals & Rare Earth's
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 (Table 11 -13). Copper is required in many
physiological functions (i.e.- RNA, DNA, lysil oxidase cofactor, melanin (Fig. 1 1-7)
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 (Fig. 11-8) 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 ruptured
aneurysms (Figs. 11-9, 1 1-10 and 1 1-11) 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 exhibit 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 viability 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 vegetarian 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.
