[donocco]

Elizabeth

Yes you can. When you take zinc orally day after day a protein called Metallothionein forms in the intestine and Metallothonein acts as a copper chelator and prevents copper absorbtion into the bloodstream from food, water (copper pipes) and saliva and gastric juice. In fact you can even use chronic zinc supplementation like Ammonium Tetrathiomolybdate to drastically lower the serum copper to 20% of normal but using zinc can take a year or more to accomplish this, whereas the Ammonium Tetrathiomolybdate therapy (20mg six times a day) takes about 3 months.

Certainly Im not advocating or recommending self treatment with zinc salts. You need to be closely monitored by the physician as there can be serious problems if the copper level falls too low, ie anemia and neutropenia. If you are on chemo that can lower blood cell counts, as so many chemos do, being deficient in copper can be even more serious. Copper is definitely an important factor in helping cancer cells grow and spread,
but it is also vital for life. What Dr. George Brewer found is that you can drastically lower the serum copper, interfere with cancer cell growth, but still have enough copper for physiological processes needed by the body. Brewer lowered the copper to 20% of normal with Ammonium Tetrathiomolybdate. He measured, not the blood copper levels but the serum Ceruloplasmin. This (Ceruloplasmin)
is a copper carrying protein in the blood. A normal level might be 35mg% of Ceruloplasmin. In cancer patients it is often higher. Brewer attempted to lower the Ceruloplasmin to about 7 or 8 mg % , no lower than 5mg %.

Dr. Brewer planned to lower the copper levels as fast as possible with the Ammonium Tertathiomolybdate, then keep the copper levels down using zinc salts. There is a prescription zinc slt called Galzin (Zinc Acetate) and is used to keep the copper levels down in Wilson's disease which is an hereditary disease of abnormal copper metabolism.

Paul