Abstract
Copper is a trace mineral that plays an important role in human metabolism, largely because it allows many critical enzymes to function properly. Little is known of copper content of Nigerian foods. In this paper, copper contents of several typical Nigerian foods were determined. The samples were collected from Kanam of Plateau State in central region of Nigeria. The samples were wet-ashed according to the protocol of Hill et al. (Anal Chem 55:2340–2342, 1986).Concentrations of copper in the samples was determined using inductively coupled-mass spectrophotometry. There is, for each crop, a wide variation in copper content. The highest copper content was found in cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (16.95 μg/g of dry weight). Lowest copper content was found in white maize and in yellow maize (Zea mays), with values 1.23 μg/g and 1.38 μg/g of dry weights, respectively. Other foods, such as white sorghum, red sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), millet (Pennisetum glaucum), and groundnuts (Arachis hypogea) had copper contents varying from 2.22 to 11.81 μg/g. These values are well below the supplemental values of 50 mg/day that could interfere with zinc absorption. Thus, among the staple foodstuffs of the areas sampled, cowpea appears to be the richest source of dietary copper followed by groundnut while the two maize varieties are the poorest.
Highlights
Copper is an essential trace mineral for both physical and mental health
The results of the analysis are as shown in the table below: As can be seen from Table 2, there is, for each crop, a wide variation in copper content
Both in terms of lowest and highest copper level detected and the mean values, cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) has the highest followed by groundnut (Arachis hypogea), while white maize (Zea mays) has the lowest copper content followed by yellow maize
Summary
Copper is an essential trace mineral for both physical and mental health. Hippocrates is said to have prescribed copper compounds to treat diseases as early as 400 B.C. (Turnlund 2006), the essentiality of copper for man was not recognized until 1928 when Hart et al (1928) showed copper to be essential for erythropoiesis in rats fed a milk-based diet. Current research suggests that most of the copper in living organisms plays the role of cofactor for specific enzymes and electron transport proteins involved in energy or antioxidant metabolism (Linder & Hazegh-Azam 1996) These functions of copper are possible because of the ability of copper to accept and donate electrons forming cuprous (Cu+) and cupric (Cu2+) ions. Cytochrome c oxidase is one of the copperdependent enzymes It plays a critical role in the cellular energy production by catalyzing the reduction of molecular oxygen (O2) to water (H2O). This reaction generates an Because copper is involved in many functions of the body, its deficiency results in a range of symptoms. Other symptoms of copper deficiency are blood vessels that rupture osteoporosis, joint problems, Copper enzyme/binding protein Cuproenzymes
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