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of
an extra nineteen years of aging
. 5 It appears that “bad” fats team up with copper to attack the brain. These fats actually assault the brain in many ways, as we’ll see in the next chapter.
    The difference in copper intake between those who generally did well and those who did not was surprisingly small. Hereare the numbers: For comparison, a penny weighs 2,500 milligrams. The people in the Chicago study who generally avoided cognitive problems got around 1 milligram of copper per day. Those who did not do so well averaged around 3 milligrams per day (2.75 milligrams, to be exact). One milligram, three milligrams—what’s the difference? you might be asking. That is still just a tiny speck of copper. But it turned out to be more than enough to cause serious problems. As we will see shortly, the foods that deliver this innocent-looking, bright, shiny metal are right under our noses, and it damages the brain enough to interfere with attention, learning, and memory—and perhaps even cause Alzheimer’s disease. Or so research seems to show.

    Copper and Cognitive Loss
    People in the Chicago Health and Aging Project who got the most copper in their diets—averaging 2.75 milligrams per day—along with fatty diets lost much more cognitive function as time went on compared with people who had less copper in their diets.

Copper and Genes
    Researchers have found a surprising link between copper and the APOE e4 allele—that is, the gene linked to Alzheimer’s risk. As you’ll recall, the proteins made by the APOE e2 and APOE e3 alleles are not associated with increased Alzheimer’s risk. It turns out that these two “safer” genes make proteins that
bind copper
. They keep it out of harm’s way. The protein produced by APOE e4 does not do that. As far as APOE e4 is concerned, you are on your own. It does nothing to protect you from copper and the shower of free radicals it causes. 6

Where Are Metals Coming From?
    By now, you are no doubt visualizing toxic metals picking off your brain cells one by one. Well, where are these metals coming from?
    Let’s start in your kitchen. What’s under your sink? Copper plumbing has been popular since the 1930s. As copper pipes and brass fittings corrode, copper leaches into drinking water. 13
    Is there a cast-iron pan on your stove? Iron cookware contributes a significant amount of iron to foods. While that may be beneficial for a young woman with monthly iron losses through menstruation, most other people are more likely to be iron-overloaded than iron-deficient.
    Next, take a look in your kitchen cupboard. Do you keep a bottle of multiple vitamins? A One A Day Men’s Health Formula multivitamin has 2 milligrams of copper—more than twice the RDA—in a single pill. It exceeds the RDA for zinc, too. In fact, if you take a look at most any vitamin-mineral supplement, you’ll find copper, zinc, and sometimes iron.
    So many of us imagine we are doing a smart thing by taking a daily multiple vitamin, and we are, in many ways. It’s an excellent source of vitamin B 12 and vitamin D, both of which are important for health. But the metals that are often addedare mostly unnecessary, because
you are already getting them in foods
. A better choice is a supplement containing vitamins only, without the added copper, zinc, iron, or other minerals. Or you could choose a B-complex tablet, which limits itself to just B vitamins. We will cover vitamins in more detail in chapter 4 .
    In the 1950s, television commercials pushed Geritol as the answer to “iron-poor tired blood.” The tonic had “twice the iron in a whole pound of calf’s liver.” Doctors promoted iron supplements as an energy booster, too, on the theory that sluggishness was a sign of anemia. Not that they worked very well; fatigue has many causes, and iron deficiency is nowhere near the top of the list.
    Take a look at your breakfast cereal. No doubt the food scientists at General Mills imagined you wanted all the