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How Pornography Use is Linked to Copper and Zinc discusses the dangers to mental health of copper toxicity and zinc deficiency. Copper and zinc are antagonists: Copper is a heavy metal, and zinc helps to usher it out of the body. (The more copper, the less zinc; the more zinc, the less copper.)
For those who want to overcome their addiction to pornography, eating a diet lower in copper and higher in zinc, and for most, supplementing with zinc, can be one important piece of the puzzle, for recovery.
I first started investigating this link when a client who struggled with pornography discovered how much a low copper diet with zinc supplementation helped him. I hope this article will help you or a loved one as well.
While often thought of as a sexual perversion, and certainly it is one, pornography addiction is also more complex. Some users are disgusted by their fascination with images and would like nothing more than to be rid of it.
Pornography use is three things: one, a moral issue, two, an addiction and three, a struggle exacerbated by nutritional deficiency and toxicity.
In How Pornography Use is Linked to Copper and Zinc, for RECOVERY! we look:
- into why copper excess is so prevalent today
- at why pornography is not just an addiction; it’s also a mental health problem
- at how frequent (more than once a week) masturbation, often used by those who engage in pornography, depletes the body of zinc
- into how zinc improves testosterone levels (and balances hormones)
- at the fact that copper toxicity and zinc deficiency lead to many mental health issues, which can increase the “need” for pornography “fixes”
- into how to decrease copper in one’s diet and increase zinc through diet and supplementation
- at brain retraining: How creating new neural pathways can help those who suffer from this addiction to overcome the habitual and damaging behavior.
Why copper toxicity is now common
Although copper is essential to the human body, copper is necessary only in minute amounts.
Copper is more prevalent in our soil and water than it used to be. We also eat more foods high in copper.
Additionally, supplements and medications deplete zinc and increase copper, plus: fungicides and pesticides, copper pipes and cookware, stress and dental work, cigarettes, to name just a few more modern sources.
Find a free printable PDF of high copper foods and a thorough look at sources and symptoms of copper in today’s world here.
Copper overload symptoms
Why pornography addiction is a psychiatric disorder
Mineral deficiencies are common in patients suffering from psychiatric disorders.
Pornography use is a psychiatric disorder because it’s a mental health issue that includes emotional regulation, behavior and impairment of judgment.
With pornography use, pathways in the brain are used repeatedly to stimulate the release of certain feel-good hormones like dopamine.
Shrinking of the brainโs frontal lobe happens when someone abuses drugs, alcohol or pornography.
Part of healing from this addiction includes retraining the brain, creating new neural pathways and choosing healthy sources of the feel-good hormones.
How Pornography Use is Linked to Copper and Zinc: Too much copper
Too much copper inhibits dopamine production but also increases its oxidation process, creating a toxic form of dopamine. This imbalance leads to too much of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine.
As one source says, “When copper levels are high, more norepinephrine and epinephrine (adrenaline) are synthesized from dopamine, which can causes [sic] feelings of agitation, anxiety and panic, overstimulation, racing thoughts, restlessness, and insomnia. In other words, it has an amphetamine-like effect, revving the nervous system into a state of overdrive.”
High levels of these neurotransmitters may lead to symptoms like: hyperactivity, ADHD, impulsivity, agitation, irritability and aggressiveness, depression and anxiety.
Depending on the individual, these agitated and impulsive symptoms promote the use of pornography.
Too much copper causes too little serotonin
Excess copper also blocks the production of serotonin, which is a feel-good hormone and responsible for regulating mood.
Low serotonin leads to pornography use.
It’s not uncommon for users to reach for pornography when they’re unknowingly low on serotonin, feeling: “off”, idle, depressed, stressed or in a kind of haze.
How Pornography Use is Linked to Copper and Zinc: Symptoms of zinc deficiency
Zinc deficiency has multiple effects, affecting both body and mind:
- depression
- increased anxiety
- irritability and emotional instability (Moodiness is quite common in men, but often excused in our culture. Although it can go unnoticed or unacknowledged, it’s a symptom of imbalance.)
- deficits in social behavior
- sexual dysfunction
Other symptoms may include: growth impairment, inflammation, gastrointestinal symptoms or cutaneous (skin, nails and related muscle and glands) effects.
Many medications commonly administered to psychiatric patients reduce zinc and its absorption, causing deficiency. For those who struggle with pornography and are also using medications for other mental health challenges, zinc further depletes.
Zinc deficiency often goes undetected, as symptoms may be subtle or not attributed to a mineral deficiency.
Dietary choices that produce zinc deficiency
These may or may not apply to you, in terms of causing a zinc deficiency. Two of the men I know who struggle with pornography addiction eat plenty of meat. But it’s another factor to consider. (Copper toxicity alone creates a zinc deficiency.)
These dietary choices create a zinc deficiency:
- lack of meat intake
- excess phytates (found in legumes, seeds, soy products, cereals, corn and whole grains)
- high oxalate intake (foods like spinach, chocolate/cocoa, potatoes, beets, bran, buckwheat, nuts and tea; see Low Oxalate Diet list here.)
Link between zinc deficiency and pornography
For those who struggle with pornography use, or even being tempted toward pornography, here are some of the links between zinc deficiency and pornography use:
- Most men who look at pornography also masturbate (more on this below). Masturbation significantly decreases zinc.
- Most people are already zinc deficient and copper toxic — before masturbation or pornography use make the deficiency worse.
- Zinc deficiency increases addictive behaviors.
- Pornography use depletes and increases the need for more dopamine, the same as highly addictive drugs. Zinc increases (and balances) dopamine levels and serotonin uptake.
Copper toxicity linked to criminal behavior and anxiety
Excess copper stores in the brain, as well as the liver, affecting mental health.
Most men convicted of sex crimes use pornography, and in testing, copper toxicity, and zinc deficiency, are present in criminals.
So while most men who use pornography do not commit crimes, we do have copper toxicity established as a link with pornography use.
Because we still need testing for the specific and direct correlation between copper toxicity and pornography use, the links we do have are important — because many are trying to break free from this vicious cycle of addiction.
The purpose is to hone in on what helps with recovery.
What does zinc supplementation help with
The main things to look for when beginning zinc supplementation are if it helps to reduce temptation toward pornography use, but also overall health improvements.
Zinc and impulsivity
Pornography use is often impulsive. While it can be planned, phones have also made it something that can be accessed in one moment of weakness (one reason to have a support network you can reach out to in moments of temptation).
In testing, children receiving zinc had better scores on impulsivity. While these tests were done on children, the brain effects with adults using zinc are likely to be the same.
Zinc for hormone balancing
Zinc improves testosterone levels. While testosterone is often linked with aggression, it is more accurately understood as a necessary male hormone that should be balanced and often is not.
High copper affects estrogen metabolism and reduces testosterone.
Zinc helps almost everything
While it’s possible to take too much zinc (read about dosage below; more is not necessarily better), zinc is needed for almost 100 enzymes to carry out vital chemical reactions.
As a result, each individual will find their own benefits from zinc for: sleep, gut health, microbiome balance, overcoming candida, high or low blood pressure, energy, skin and nail health, improved mental health, aching muscles, attention span, constipation, headaches, allergies, cold hands or feet, thyroid health and more.
Zinc has been shown to improve copper toxicity by reducing intestinal absorption and promoting excretion in the bile.
Addicted to porn and masturbation
The body loses zinc from masturbation. Those who are addicted to porn are making their problem worse by repeating this behavior.
Can masturbation lead to zinc deficiency
The resounding answer to this question is, Yes! Zinc deficiency can be caused or exacerbated by masturbation.
Zinc concentration in semen is even higher than in blood. So even a small amount of semen contains a relatively large amount of zinc. This is especially unsafe for anyone who masturbates regularly.
Which vitamins and nutrients do you lose from male ejaculation
Several nutrients are found in semen, not just zinc. If you’re concerned about other nutritional deficiencies that affect general health, mood and quality of life, it’s warranted. But zinc loss is the biggest concern.
Regular masturbation is not healthy.
About 1 mg of zinc is lost with each ejaculation. Chronic loss of this much zinc causes a deficiency. For someone who masturbates everyday, and sometimes more than once a day, the behavior should stop, and supplementation is recommended.
These vital nutrients are also lost with ejaculation: magnesium, potassium and to a lesser extent, Vitamin B12.
Conclusion: Frequent masturbation or ejaculation causes zinc deficiency.
How to find your zinc dose
If you’d like to try zinc supplementation, for many people, it’s easy to find your dose.
30 mg of zinc picolinate (find it here) is often a good starting place.
(Less common but important: Starting at a lower dose of 15 mg [here] is safer for those who are sensitive. For some, because any zinc supplement makes symptoms worse, it is better to increase foods containing zinc, and always reduce copper foods. Very seldom, but sometimes, people are so sensitive that they react to high zinc foods, so medium zinc foods can be focused on.)
Otherwise, foods high in zinc (that are not too high in copper, be careful here! [for example, avoid oysters]) include:
- grass-finished beef or bison
- poultry
- legumes (all kinds of beans, except soy)
How Pornography Use is Linked to Copper and Zinc: Zinc sensitivity
Occasionally, the nature of one’s copper toxicity is so great that adding in zinc can cause more symptoms, because it mobilizes copper to detox it.
So everyone should be careful in beginning zinc supplementation, that they start slowly:
“… one needs to be extremely cautious in providing high doses of zinc … supplementation when a high copper level is present. These nutrients may trigger a substantial copper detoxification process that can temporarily intensify both psychological and physical symptoms … Individuals who are attempting to reduce the excess copper level may become overwhelmed by the intensity of the symptoms that flare-up with a heavy copper detoxification.“
That’s a great warning to start slowly. The last thing we want is to have copper dumping from zinc supplementation and make the struggle with pornography worse.
Dosage conclusion
Find a good compounding of zinc at the dose of 15 mg here. 30 mg here. For those who are too sensitive to supplement, consider a low copper diet, and increase zinc foods to find the right amount for your body.
Find a free printable PDF of high copper foods to avoid here.
Zinc and copper testing
If you’re interested in improved health overall, I recommend my doctor who does testing to establish your exact zinc and copper levels, and then he will help you with dosage. His price is high, but the cost of a Zoom visit includes 6 months of follow-up in person Zoom questions, lab work and community support (for general health, but could certainly include struggles with pornography and supplement dosing). Dr. Smith is extremely thorough, so the cost is worth it, in my opinion.
I also recommend a low vitamin A + low copper diet combo, which you can read about here.
How Pornography Use is Linked to Copper and Zinc ~ plus other minerals you may need: Iron (lactoferrin), molybdenum and potassium
Other relevant supplements to consider for copper toxicity and pornography struggles are:
Iron (Use lactoferrin instead, or combined with ferritin for low iron [ask your doctor], as lactoferrin balances iron more effectively than using iron alone.)
To balance iron, consider lactoferrin. Find the best lactoferrin here, but if you choose this product, read the instructions, and start very slowly.
Otherwise, find weaker and less expensive lactoferrin here (that still works well).
Potassium
Very low potassium levels caused by the presence of a high copper result in reduced thyroid function, low energy and depression. Hypoglycemia, digestion problems, anxiety, anger, and mania can also occur.
After zinc (and magnesium), potassium is perhaps the most under-recognized mineral need. But it can also be a hard mineral to dose.
What often works well is to start supplementation with Potassium Salt (use it for cooking), and then add in more as needed.
Stir bulk potassium into water before bed to experiment with your body’s needs. Consider starting with 1/8 teaspoon, and then increase if you find it helpful. (Unfortunately, there are many forms of potassium and people vary in which is the most helpful, but potassium chloride is a good one with which to start.)
Molybdenum
In addition to zinc, molybdenum supplementation has the greatest potential for eliminating the excess burden of copper. Molybdenum promotes the excretion of copper through the bile and urine. Because bile excretion puts a greater burden on the liver, this supplement reminds us to address liver health.
See my doctor (mentioned in the section above) for help with liver and overall health improvements.
All of the adults in my home take one daily of this molybdenum supplement to promote copper excretion.
Brain retraining: new neural pathways
Anyone who helps addicts overcome their pornography habit will attest to the fact that neural pathways play a key role.
Viewing pornography rewires the brain to want more of the same. The more we utilize a specific pathway, the stronger that connection becomes for repeating the behavior — and producing more dopamine and other feel good hormones.
Referred to as plasticity, the good news is that we can change our brains to prefer other neuropathways!
From personal experience, I highly recommend a program called DNRS. While this approach is used to treat chronic illnesses, it can absolutely be used to overcome addiction to pornography.
It is applied neuroplasticity which creates new neural pathways for recovery.
Symptoms like fatigue, lack of motivation, disconnectedness from reality and inability to concentrate can be replaced with renewed energy, groundedness and a desire to engage and create a life that makes a difference.
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