ABSTRACT
The iron caused a highly significant displacement of copper from the livers of the iron-supplemented animals. The liver iron was increased threefold and the liver copper level was reduced to one third as a result of the iron supplement. Liver copper seems to destroy ascorbic acid more rapidly than liver iron. Liver biopsies are too hazardous to use simply for research purposes, but perhaps some method will soon be devised whereby individual heavy metal contents can be estimated by a noninvasive technique such as nuclear magnetic resonance or neutron activation analysis. Studies of the mineral content of municipal drinking water supplies in different regions of the US, Britain, Sweden, and Japan have shown significant correlations between soft water and increased death rates from hypertensive and arteriosclerotic heart disease. Also, many divalent ions such as cadmium, zinc, nickel, copper, manganese, and cobalt will replace mercury, and the oxidation of ascorbic acid is related stoichiometrically to the amount of mercuric ion released.
