NKF Letters

High-visibility version

From: Cedric Mumford

To: National Kidney Federation

Date: 9 June 2000

My wife Lynne had one and a half kidneys taken out almost three years ago as she had cancer. She is still alive and well, and although on haemodialysis she is very lucky in not having a fluid restriction.

I am a chemistry lecturer in my profession, and through my reading I recently came across an article in which the author addressed the question of why dialysis patients are 14 times more likely than normal to have heart attacks. The author felt sure it was do do with the daily copper intake of dialysis patients. He claimed their daily intake was about 1milligram too low to maintain proper levels. As copper acts with enzymes in the oxidation of fats, the author thought that a lack of copper could be the cause of the heart attacks.

I have since read that copper is stored in the body in association with a protein called ceruloplasmin. On the face of it a patient need only take a drop of copper sulphate solution/day to make up the alleged deficiency, but in fact copper is poorly absorbed unless bound to an acidic amino acid. Copper evidently works with erythropoetin in stimulating the production of red cells, so a lack of copper make erythropoetin injections less effective and can also cause hair to thin.

My questions are these: Has any patient had their ceruloplasmin levels measured or been given a copper supplement? Are blood copper levels monitored at all? /p>

Regards,

Cedric Mumford
School of Applied Sciences,
UWIC, Cardiff CF5 2YB

Note: Please send or email any responses to the above letter to the NKF Worksop Office (details below). The NKF would like to emphasise that views expressed in letters are those of the patients/others that wrote them, and are not the views of the NKF.

The National Kidney Federation cannot accept responsibility for the views expressed by others in these letters pages.

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