Reply to LM Klevay

Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 900 Commonwealth Avenue East, Boston, MA 02215-1204

Dear Sir:

We thank Klevay for his comments regarding the potential role of copper in lowering risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Indeed, dietary intakes of numerous minerals—including copper, selenium, calcium, magnesium, chromium, and zinc—have been hypothesized to play a role in preventing CHD through various potential mechanisms. The relations of these minerals with risk of CHD were reviewed elsewhere in great detail (1). At present, the independent efficacy of these minerals in CHD prevention remains to be firmly established.

REFERENCE

1. Willett WC. Diet and coronary heart disease. In: Willett WC, ed. Nutritional epidemiology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.