Wilson’s disease is a rare genetic disorder characterized by the body’s inability to excrete copper, resulting in its accumulation in tissues, mainly in the liver and brain.
Wilson’s disease can present with neurological, behavioral, and psychiatric symptoms.
The most common neurological symptoms are gait and balance disorders, upper limb tremor, chorea, muscle stiffness, slowness of movement, dysarthria, dystonia, and dysphagia.
Behavioral and psychiatric symptoms are usually aggression, depression, and schizophrenia-like symptoms.
The manifestations of Wilson’s disease may be a simple increase in transaminases, but it may also be chronic hepatitis or even acute hepatitis requiring immediate transplantation. Also anemia, cataracts, damage to the cornea of the eyes, kidney and/or heart rhythm disorders, osteoporosis, arthropathy, blue tint of the nails.
The treatment of the disease is the administration of medications to bind excess copper and remove it from the body as well as zinc, in the form of a supplement, which helps inhibit copper absorption in the gastrointestinal system.
In addition to the necessary intake of medication, by adding foods rich in zinc and low in copper we can help our body more.
Foods rich in zinc are the following:
Foods rich in zinc are mainly red meat, chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, eggs, legumes, pumpkin seeds but it is also found in small amounts in oats, chickpeas, cashews and yogurt.
Our body has the ability to absorb approximately 20-40% of what it consumes from food.
Foods with Copper
Foods we should not eat because of the high copper amount :
lobster, oyster, liver (all animals)
Foods we should limit because they have medium copper amount:
crab, mushrooms, cashews, baking chocolate
Foods we can eat but in small amounts and not so often because they have small amount of copper:
Soy products (edamame, tofu, tempeh), beans (especially black beans and navy beans), seeds, nuts (peanuts, almonds and macadamia nuts have less copper), dark chololate (70-85%), shrimp, snails, quail, mussels.
Other sources of copper
Most packaged foods contain copper and we should check their labels to see their content.
Also, most vitamin and mineral supplements contain copper.
Do not use cookware made of copper.
Check your tap water for high levels of copper and if it does, consume bottled water with as little copper as possible.
Copper in a vegetarian/vegan diet
Many vegetarian sources of protein contain copper, such as nuts, beans and soy products. Care should be taken in their consumption to avoid problems.
Diet gun 
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