Departments of Human Genetics and Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, 3820 Gensley Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA.
J Am Coll Nutr. 2009 Jun;28(3):238-42. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2009.10719777.
It is a pleasure and an honor to contribute a paper to a special issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition honoring Stanley Wallach and Pearl Small. In this brief review I advance the hypothesis that copper toxicity is the major cause of the epidemic of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease engulfing our aging population. This epidemic is recent, exploding in the last 50-60 years. The disease was virtually unknown 100 years ago. And it involves only developed countries that use copper plumbing. Something in our environment associated with development is poisoning the minds of our aged. The epidemic is associated with the use of copper plumbing, and the taking of copper in multi-mineral supplements. Food copper (organic copper) is processed by the liver and is transported and sequestered in a safe manner. Inorganic copper, such as that in drinking water and copper supplements, largely bypasses the liver and enters the free copper pool of the blood directly. This copper is potentially toxic because it may penetrate the blood/brain barrier. I review a web of animal and human data that tightens the noose around the hypothesis that copper toxicity is causing the epidemic of Alzeimer's disease and loss of cognition in our aging population.
非常荣幸能够为美国营养学院杂志纪念斯坦利·沃拉赫和珀尔·斯莫尔的特刊贡献一篇论文。在这篇简要的综述中，我提出了这样一个假设，即铜中毒是导致轻度认知障碍和阿尔茨海默病流行的主要原因，这种流行病正在席卷我们的老龄化人口。这种流行病是最近才出现的，在过去的 50-60 年中爆发。这种疾病在 100 年前几乎是未知的。而且它只涉及到使用铜管的发达国家。我们环境中与发展有关的某种物质正在毒害我们老年人的思维。这种流行病与使用铜管以及多种矿物质补充剂中的铜有关。食物中的铜（有机铜）由肝脏处理，并以安全的方式进行运输和隔离。饮用水和铜补充剂中的无机铜则很大程度上绕过肝脏，直接进入血液中的游离铜池。这种铜可能具有毒性，因为它可能穿透血脑屏障。我回顾了一系列动物和人类的数据，这些数据进一步证实了铜中毒是导致阿尔茨海默病和我们老年人口认知能力下降流行的假设。
