Overview
Copper is an essential metal in enzymes including cytochrome c oxidase, lysyl oxidase, and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase, but excess copper can produce gastrointestinal and hepatic toxicity. Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021 also frames inherited copper-metabolism disorders including Menkes disease and Wilson disease.
Status
This page is a source-map stub created during the re-ingest of Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021. Substantive copper-specific expansion awaits a dedicated copper ingest.
Frequently asked questions
Is copper actually necessary for the body, or is it just a contaminant?
Copper is an essential metal, not only a contaminant. It is required by enzymes including cytochrome c oxidase, lysyl oxidase, and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021. The concern arises from excess rather than from copper being present at all.
What happens if you get too much copper?
Excess copper can produce gastrointestinal and hepatic (liver) toxicity Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021. The page frames this as an effect of excess copper, in contrast to copper’s essential role at normal levels.
Are there genetic conditions that affect how the body handles copper?
Yes. Inherited copper-metabolism disorders include Menkes disease and Wilson disease Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021. These are disorders of copper metabolism rather than dietary-exposure effects.
How complete is this copper page right now?
It is currently a source-map stub created during the re-ingest of Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021. Substantive copper-specific content is noted as awaiting a dedicated copper ingest, so detailed food-source, exposure, and regulatory information is not yet covered here.
Sources
- Ufelle & Barchowsky 2021 — Ufelle AC, Barchowsky A, 2021. Toxic Effects of Metals, Ch 23 in Casarett & Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology, 4th ed.
References
Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. This is not the full corpus for this page; it is only what the prose above draws on. The complete set of sources is listed under Sources below. Each title links to its source record, which carries the ingest receipt, the extracted values, and the file hash of the document it was built from.
- Toxic Effects of Metals (Chapter 23), in Casarett & Doull’s Essentials of Toxicology, Fourth EditionTextbook
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 1 source added; contamination-profile values revised; 10 sections added |