Zinc and copper duke it out
 

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The story is of a man with an incision that wouldn't heal. He had a low white and red cell count. The reason: He was taking a high dose of zinc, along with some copper he was getting in his multivitamin. The zinc and copper are absorb by the same receptors so the zinc was getting absorb, but the copper wasn't. So he became very copper deficient. Interesting story.

people are warned not to take too much zinc. You have to get it in the correct range.



http://www.worldhealth.net/p/aadr-zinc.html

regarding copper



http://www.worldhealth.net/p/aadr-copper.html

Also if this guy was taking bad forms of the vitamins - that can have bad side effects.

That is why I prefer for people to take high quality "mega" multi-vitamins. All of these ratios and interactions (things you must look out for) should already be factored in.

My multi has 1 mg Copper (as amino acid chelate) and 30 mg Zinc (as L-OptiZinc®)

I also agree with the idea that you need to start and stop different supplements to see what they do for you. It usually takes a couple of weeks to flush things out - so make a change and wait two weeks - then make another change - wait two weeks.

My multi-vitamin, fish oil, and magnesium are about the only things I take everyday and do not change. I guess I take potassium regularly also. Most anitoxidants and other supplements I drop, change them around, etc.

I tend to think that body gets on cruise control and gets use to you giving it things. Switching them up seems to help your body.

Victor Conte from Balco(yeah the Barry Bonds dude) has been saying this for years.

His recommendations for mineral supplementation to avoid this"competition" for receptor sites is as followed.

Zinc with Magnesium
Copper with Chromium
Selenium with Iron

Calcium, by itself, but I'm not so convinced of this

Well from what I've read chromium directly competes with copper by sharing the same receptors - even more so than zinc.

Have a look at acu-cell.com under chromium and copper.

I have also read that vitamin C at doses higher than 500mg/day will reduce copper and zinc as well - which is I think why I end up getting pretty sick with colds if I megadose C and don't back it up with enough copper/zinc.

And yes - from my own experience I have become deficient in copper after taking zinc and a multi that didn't have much copper in it. Also on a low-carb diet copper consumption isn't very high unless you eat a lot of mushrooms, liver, nuts/seeds or seafood (not fish).

I had a leg cartilage injury that just would not heal until I started taking copper in a multimineral (as a chelate). I take a lot of magnesium anyway, but I also have to balance that with calcium or I get nervous/tremors/irregular heartbeat.

I always take my copper and zinc apart and at different ends of the day.