Abstract

Copper (Cu) is one of the essential metal elements necessary for homeostasis maintenance. Cu is present in most foods and thus, hypocupremia is rare even when the food intake is minimal. Elderly people, however, especially those with dementia, sometimes have decreased oral food intake. In this paper, we describe the case of a female patient in her 80s taking very low Cu supportive meals and suffering from hypocupremia. This patient stayed in our hospital from 201X-6 because of dementia. We observed her general condition (blood cell count, biochemical data) once every 2-3 months. She showed decreased appetite and could eat only very low Cu supportive meals from August 201X+1 and suffered from hypocupremia (serum Cu concentration significantly decreased and reached a minimum of 4 ng/dl in October 201X+1). The number of white blood cells decreased and the concentration of total cholesterol in serum increased. They immediately returned to normal levels after she started eating regular food from October 201X+1. Food-intake-related hypocupremia can easily induce immunodeficiency and hypercholesterolemia, but can be easily treated by simply eating regular food.