Copper

Copper is an essential trace mineral that supports iron metabolism, connective tissue formation, and the activity of several enzymes. The body needs it in small amounts and regulates its absorption, transport, and excretion.

Ceruloplasmin: A copper-containing blood protein that carries most circulating copper and helps oxidize iron for transport. It links copper availability to iron loading onto transferrin.
Trace element: A chemical element required by an organism in very small quantities. Copper belongs to this nutritional class because tiny amounts support essential functions.
Dietary Reference Intake: A set of nutrient intake standards used to assess and plan diets for healthy populations. Copper requirements and upper limits are expressed within this framework.
Wilson disease: An inherited disorder in which impaired copper excretion causes copper to accumulate in tissues. It contrasts copper overload from defective disposal with deficiency from inadequate supply.
Cytochrome c oxidase: A mitochondrial enzyme complex that transfers electrons to oxygen during cellular respiration. Its copper centers help drive the final step of oxidative phosphorylation.
Copper absorption: The uptake of dietary copper, chiefly across the small intestine, into the body. Absorption determines how much food-derived copper enters circulation.
Copper deficiency: A state in which insufficient copper disrupts blood-cell production, nervous function, or connective tissue. It demonstrates the consequences of inadequate intake or impaired absorption.
Menkes disease: An inherited disorder of copper transport that causes severe copper deficiency in many tissues. It shows how defective delivery can cause deficiency despite copper being present in food.
Lysyl oxidase: A copper-dependent enzyme that initiates cross-linking in collagen and elastin. Its activity gives connective tissues tensile strength.
Copper transport: The movement of copper through blood and tissues bound to proteins and small molecules. Copper is rarely free in the body, so transport proteins govern its distribution.

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