More Copper & Less Drugs: Choosing Red for the Blues

I wrote in 1995: “In the last 25 years I have seen and interacted at craft shows with thousands of people. While it may sound strange, I concluded that there is a genre of ‘copper bracelet’ people. They are friendlier, perky, alive, and they care more about their personal appearance. In short, copper bracelet wearers are fun people.”
This casual observation from 17 years ago received a scientific corroboration last month from Dr. Michael Lesser, an experienced Ortho Molecular Psychiatrist from Berkeley, CA who has researched and published with Dr. Linus Pauling (who was twice a Nobel Prize Laureate).
Dr. Lesser is well known for replacing prescription drugs with vitamins and mineral supplements – a specialty that has earned him much appreciation from liberated patients but it reduces drug sales – so we do not hear much about his pioneering work in the corporate news.
Dr. Lesser knows of my interest in copper and in a recent conversation he taught me that it is not enough to have our blood readings of copper and zinc within normal range but we should also monitor how their levels relate to each other. Physicians are trained to check blood tests for something that is off the norm, so if results are within range then they quickly move on, but Dr. Lesser discovered that not only the levels of these essential minerals is important, but also how they compare to each other because, for example, if copper is lower than zinc, then depression is far more likely to develop.
Add to Dr. Lesser’s observations the recent indicators that our industrial farms are depleting our soils of trace minerals. Reports indicate that we need to eat now 50 cans of spinach to get the same amount of iron that was in one can when Popeye was written. It is therefore obvious to relate copper deficient diets with low copper in the blood, and thus suspect this to be a cause for the increasing use of antidepressants.
Further validation perhaps can be provided by anthropologists, since I have seen copper and brass bracelets being worn in every continent by natives that seldom or never had contact with other cultures.
Our ancestors were smart and very practical, a nomad or an African hunter takes only essentials in their long journeys, but their minimum equipment often includes a copper bracelet. Why?
When anthropologists look further they may find out that copper bracelets are not just worn for decoration but they have a deep belief system behind them, long held traditions on how to make and wear a copper bracelet that we should record and study even when they do not fit our present beliefs.
Native cultures have lived in harmony with their environment for millennia, while we are already facing unsustainability.
I believe this is a good time to listen to doctors that cure us naturally, with fewer drugs, and to develop a humble attitude so we may rediscover how our ancestors stayed healthy. ~ Sergio Lub