If you’ve been popping “immune support” from the checkout aisle, or even cough drops, you may have inadvertently sabotaged yourself.
Many of those products just load you up on one thing—Vitamin C, or Zinc, for instance. You don’t need to go overboard if you have a healthy, balanced diet, or if you’re already taking a daily multivitamin so be careful to always read labels—some of these one ingredient products can really unbalance you!
Loading up on just one thing isn’t really useful, especially if it’s zinc. Zinc is linked to helping with symptoms of the common cold, but too much of one thing can offset your balance. In the case of zinc, it needs to be balanced by copper (not too much of either).
Copper deficiency symptoms can be mild and subtle, including fatigue, weakened immune system (because too much zinc threw off the balance!), mental fog, and premature gray hair, among other symptoms. While it’s simple to test for copper (and not just serum but cellular levels) it’s no one’s first choice solution…
…Despite surveys showing that many diets are short on copper (nevermind factoring in where things are grown and nutrient depletion in the soil—needing small quantities of trace minerals is one thing, but when we’ve over farmed, mined, etc., it’s kind of necessary to find sources other than food!).
And for some, they may experience related problems. Energy, especially, can be a struggle. You need both iron and copper (and just the right amounts!), but copper is often forgotten.
What to do? If you’ve been loading up on zinc over cold and flu season, balance things out with some colloidal copper, and get back to normal.
Besides graying hair, copper also plays an important role in skin/tissue connectivity. If you think you’ve gotten back to nutritional balance, use your copper as a skin spray for added support of smooth skin! Some may need ongoing copper support, though, including the elderly, athletes (who need more of everything!) and vegetarians!
Do you have a copper story to tell?
