The physiological role of copper and the problems of copper nutritional deficiency

The paper deals with recent achievements concerning the physiological role of copper in the human organism. The problem of copper supplementation of the human diet is discussed. An outlook is given on the contemporary theories referring to the role of copper in nutrition. Special attention has been paid to the copper-containing enzymes and copper-dependent enzymes as well as to the problem of nutritional copper deficiencies. This paper shows the necessity of copper for: --"cleaning" of the organism from the excesses of free radicals, biogenic amines and cholesterol --the proper synthesis of hemoglobin, elastin, collagen and probably thyroid hormones --providing the energy formed in the respiratory chain and needed for biochemical syntheses and proper physical activity.