Evening star., 1929-01-02
COPPER IN FOOD y
CALLED BENEFICIAL
Physicians Discredit Theory
of Liver Disease From Me-
taIIic Content of Diet.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, January 2-The Journal
of Experimental Medicine reports in its
current issue that from evidence now
at hand the quantities of copper found
in food and drinking water will not in
jure any human organ Furthermore,
evidence is accommodating to show that
small amounts of the metal have a
beneficial effect on the blood in cases of
anemia.
The periodical made public today the
results of nearly three years of research.
The problem was undertaken because
experiments elsewhere had associated
copper poisoning with the rare disease
known as hemocromatosis.
Refute biological Theory.
"The findings are of unusual interest
to the medical profession said the an
nouncement, because they refute the
theory that copper Is the Geological
agent of the human disease hemochro-
amtosis."
The scientists conducting the Column
bia experiments were DR.. Frederick B.
Finn. director of industrial hygiene at
the Medical College, and DR.. William c..
Won Claim, associate professor of pa
thology.
Early investigators have not been
uniform in their opinions, but the
weight of evidence was that copper was
not harfmul substance in the amounts
that occurred in our food and drinking
water" said a summary of the results.
PathologiSts had noted that most OF
the persons who died of the disease
during a sudden rise in its incidence
had been drinkers of bootleg liquor
An ANALYSIS of samples of liquor sold in
Boston revealed the presence OF copper
which was believed to have been dis
solved from the coils of the stills in
which the beverage was made.
Experiments with Rabbits.
In an attempt to show that the pig
mentation of the liver, accompanying
hemochromatosis, was due to copper,
copper acetate was fed to rabbits, ana
the resulting changes in their llverS
were comparable to those found in
hemochromatosis cases.
Scientists learned that virtually all OF
the metal thus fed was eliminated,
and that, although various organs might
contain very small quantities of copper.
the liver was the main storage place OF
such as was retained.
The experiments divulged that copper
was not the cause OF the pigment oe-
post i'll a rabbits liver, since the same
change was produced when SODIUM
acetate was given with a standard diet.
Furthermore, continued the sum-
mary. when rabbits are fed a diet
of carrots exclusively. the deposition or
pigment occurs with greater rapidity
than with copper or its compounds and
the standard diet. The changes result
ing in the livers of carrot-fed animals
are identical in every way with those
seen following doses of copper, and in
animals given doses Of sodium acetate.
In none of the rabbits given copper
could a definite cirrhosiSis be proven"
Nothing definite regarding the nature
of the pigment can be said at present,
the investigators asserted, although the
evidence indicates that it originates IN
an internal process. :,
The experimenters also examined
specimens of human hvers, in addition
to samples from livers of copper work
ers. Not only did they find copper in
all. but they noted that the amount OF
the metal in the copper workers was
close to the minimum.