By Bill Sardi
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease after this famous baseball player died of the disease in 1941), is a disease without a known cause or cure. It progressively disables motor neurons and often a victim dies by choking to death or cannot expand their lungs and succumbs by asphyxiation.
Researchers writing in the Annual Review of Biochemistry have been investigating SOD1—superoxide dismutase 1 – an internally made enzymatic antioxidant and ALS.[1] When the human body is biologically stressed, SOD-1 is produced from zinc-copper precursors. Somehow in the development of ALS, zinc-copper SOD1 becomes toxic, destroying motor neurons (nerves used for movement).[2]
In a more recent report published in Neurobiology of Disease we learn that the provision of copper lengthens the lifespan of ALS mice by 25%.[3]
Then, apparently on the cusp of a cure, researcher Stephen Byer indicates a zinc-copper drug is being tested and winks his eye to say, if you read between the lines, that maybe ALS patients ought to be taking copper and zinc supplements.[4]
There is no way to get enough zinc from the diet. Dr. Byer goes on to spell out what to do: “Copper and zinc pose little to no risk and have few side effects and can be purchased at most health food stores as well as online. The recommended dosage is 90-100 mg of zinc and 2-3 mg of copper, taken twice daily. In other words, don’t wait for the copper/zinc drug.”
With all of the above information as background information, in my investigations of natural remedies for helpless diseases, I stumbled across the following case report published in BMJ (British Medical Journal Case Reports.[5] The report describes a 62-year-old male with a history of six months of progressive lower-limb instability, burning or prickling sensations in arms, legs and feet (paresthesia), pain, and weakness. A motor-neuron problem was confirmed. Blood tests reveal a lower copper/higher zinc ratio.
The abnormal blood mineral levels were traced to use of a zinc-based dental fixative paste used for his false teeth. The dental fixative was withdrawn and supplemental copper provided. The progressive course of the disease was halted, although the patient remains in a wheelchair.
If this is a cure of sorts, then one wonders why it has taken so long to find it. The report published in BMJ Case Reports goes unnoticed by modern medicine as it pursues lucrative monoclonal antibody (mAB) drugs to treat every disease, which is itself an admission that many of the diseases these drugs treat are autoimmune in nature (body against itself).
Would the provision of zinc or zinc/copper eradicate the need for the expensive monoclonal antibody drugs (47 FDA approved) that mount up to $125 billion of sales annually?
No wonder modern medicine ridicules and expresses disdain for natural remedies like zinc and copper. They have made an entire industry out of crafting synthetic drugs to overcome what amounts to a mineral imbalance.
As a report published at Atlas of Science points out, the lack of zinc (or balance of zinc with copper) is at the heart of autoimmune disorders.[6] We are talking here about multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Type-I diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and a long list of other autoimmune diseases that are often initially addressed by prescribing steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Decadron) that only douse the flames (symptoms) of these diseases, never cures them.
©2017 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc.
[1] Valentine JS, Doucette PA, Potter SZ, “Copper-Zinc Superoxide Dismutase and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” Annual Review of Biochemistry, Vol. 74, pp. 563-593 (July 2005), at http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.biochem.72.121801.161647.
[2] Bosco DA, “The Role of SOD1 in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” Nature Education, 8(3):4 (2015), at https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/the-role-of-sod1-in-amyotrophic-lateral-131764166.
[3] Williams JR, Trias E, et al., “Copper delivery to the CNS by CuATSM effectively treats motor neuron disease in SOD(G93A) mice co-expressing the Copper-Chaperone-for-SOD,” Neurobiol Dis., 2016 May;89:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2016.01.020; Epub 2016 Jan 27, at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26826269.
[4] Byer S, “Zinc and Copper,” ALS Worldwide, Jan 27, 2015, at http://alsworldwide.org/care-and-support/article/zinc-and-copper.
[5] Carroll LS, Abdul-Rahim AH, Murray R, “Zinc containing dental fixative causing copper deficiency myelopathy,” BMJ Case Rep., 2017 Aug 8;2017; pii: bcr-2017-219802; doi: 10.1136/bcr-2017-219802, at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28790120.
[6] Atlas of Science, “Zinc – A beneficial player in autoimmune diseases,” Aug 8, 2016, at https://atlasofscience.org/zinc-a-beneficial-player-in-autoimmune-diseases/.
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