Copper intake Alzheimer's risk says study

How much copper you take in could worsen your risk of Alzheimer's, US researchers say.

Studies have been made of only rabbits so far, but they raise important questions about copper in the water supply.

Rabbits that drank distilled water did not develop an animal version of Alzheimer's disease, but when ordinary tap water containing copper was given to them, they did, said Dr Larry Sparks of Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, Arizona.

"Copper is an essential nutrient but has also been implicated as an important factor in Alzheimer's disease," Sparks and Bernard Schreurs of West Virginia University wrote in their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has a maximum contaminant level goal for copper in drinking water of 1.3 parts per million.

Levels in the drinking water for the test rabbits were a tenth of that.

- REUTERS