Association between dietary copper intake and cognitive function in American older adults: NHANES 2011–2014

#1

Carried out by a team from Hebei Medical University in China, the study looked at diet and health data for 2,420 adults aged 60 or over in the US, finding there was a link between more copper in diets and better cognitive function.

Across multiple measures, those with more copper in their diets scored significantly higher than those with less – though there was also a threshold point above which more copper doesn’t seem to bring additional benefits.

Cognitive scores improved with increasing copper intake only up to a certain point—about 1.2 to 1.6 milligrams per day depending on the test. Beyond that, additional copper didn’t offer further gains.

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This cross-sectional observational study examined the association between dietary copper intake and cognitive function in American older adults, using data from the 2011 to 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Analyzing a total of 2420 participants, dietary copper intake was determined by averaging two 24-h dietary recalls, whereas cognitive function was assessed by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), the Animal Fluency Test (AFT), a Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s disease (CERAD) subtest and global cognition Z score. Multivariate linear regression models were used to explore the association between copper levels and cognitive function. Higher copper intake was associated with higher cognitive scores. In the fully adjusted model, compared to the lowest quartile (Q1), the highest quartile (Q4) of copper intake was associated with related to higher cognitive scores (DSST: β = 3.80, 95% CI 1.90,5.70; AFT: β = 1.23, 95% CI 0.48,1.99; CERAD-IRT: β = 0.58, 95% CI − 0.06,1.22; CERAD-DRT: β = 0.47, 95% CI 0.15,0.80; Z score: β = 0.20, 95% CI 0.10,0.29), particularly in participants with a history of stroke. Multivariate smooth spline analysis revealed that dietary copper intake was related to DSST, AFT and Z score in an inverted L-shaped nonlinear manner. The inflection point of copper was 1.63 mg/day for DSST, 1.42 mg/day for AFT and 1.22 mg/day for the Z score. Further longitudinal research is necessary to substantiate these findings.

Open access paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-09280-9

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#2

On thing alcohol consumption is thought to do is to reduce copper levels. I have been supplementing quite a bit of copper. I have done one test since a massive reduction in alcohol intake and did not see much of a shift.

#3

Did you do a copper serum test, or a copper urine test? I’m curious. Did you measure Ceruloplasmin?

Study is nice, but it could turn out that it is zinc/copper balance that is the driving those cognitive benefits.

#4

serum. I don’t think it was ceruloplasmin.

#5

I’ve never looked at the list of the best copper containing foods, so thanks for posting this.

I imagine I’m getting quite a bit because if you cut me, I bleed chickpeas.

Last week, I started supplementing with copper 3x per week because there is 15mg of zinc in my daily multi. I realize I definitely wouldn’t need to add copper if I were not adding zinc.

Do most of you think, even if you are getting plenty of copper in your diet, it’s wise to supplement IF you are adding zinc?

(I’ll add this to my next labs in a few months)

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