不少人以為銅是一種重金屬，其實銅是身體非常重要的微量元素，只有身體代謝有問題或者環境曝露太多，來不及代謝才會造成身體負擔。事實上，缺銅會對身體造成許多負面影響，舉例來說，胎兒或者新生兒的發育需要銅這種微量元素，不足會導致生長發育遲滯:
Ralph, A., and McArdle, H. J. 2001. Copper metabolism and requirements in the pregnant mother, her fetus, and children. New York: International Copper Association
銅缺乏也容易導致骨質疏鬆、關節炎、心血管病甚至是增加大腸癌罹患風險等等:
- Cordano, A. 1978. Copper deficiency in clinical medicine. In Monographs of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 2, Zinc and copper in clinical medicine, eds. K. M. Hambidge and B. L. Nichols, Jr., pp. 119–126. Proceedings of the 17th Annual Meeting. New York: SP Med. Sci. Books
- Danks, D. M. 1988. Copper deficiency in humans. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 8:235–257
- Stern, Bonnie R. et al., 2007, Copper and Human Health: Biochemistry, Genetics, And Strategies For Modeling Dose-Response Relationships, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 10:157–222
缺銅還容易發生貧血、體重增加、反覆感染以及缺乏活力等狀況，足見銅是身體不可或缺的重要微量元素。最近英國研究發現銅對於預防大腦細胞退化有重要的功效，缺乏銅的人，大腦容易形成退化班塊(senile plaques )，反之銅不缺的人，大腦會抑制乙型-澱粉樣蛋白(beta amyloid)形成 beta sheets，抑制退化班塊形成。
相關參考文獻:
Matthew Mold, Larissa Ouro-Gnao, Beata M Wieckowski, Christopher Exley. Copper prevents amyloid-β1–42 from forming amyloid fibrils under near-physiological conditions in vitro. Scientific Reports, 2013; 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01256
要了解自己體內銅是否足夠?功能性醫學檢測能提供客觀的檢測來直接了解，不須猜謎。素食者容易缺銅，原因是植物對於銅的生物利用率比較低，因此一旦檢出銅不足，建議可以從營養補充品來加強，提醒大家留意:
Lee, D.-Y., Schroeder, J. III, and Gordon, D. T. 1984. The effect of phytic acid on copper bioavailability. Fed. Proc. 43:616–620
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