Can taking zinc cause a deficiency in copper in your body?

what can I do to prevent this deficiency (while still taking zinc)

Hi Daffy Duck, Yes Zinc interferes with copper absorption. People taking zinc supplements for more than a few weeks should also take copper (unless they have Wilson鈥檚 disease). In the absence of copper supplementation, vitamin C may interfere with copper metabolism. Copper improves absorption and utilization of iron.

The type of zinc you need is one that is bound with picolinic acid. This type is called "zinc picolinate." There are other type of zinc supplements such as zinc citrate and zinc gluconate, but there are not absorb as good as zinc picolinate. If you cannot get zinc picolinate then the next best is zinc gluconate.

Here are some of the foods to add to your diet to get more zinc.

Beef, lamb, cheese, yeasts, oysters, Shrimp, herring, sunflower seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sesame Seeds, wheat germ & bran, Mushrooms, Spinach, Squash, Asparagus, Collard Greens, Broccoli ,Chard, Miso, Maple Syrup

Zinc can be toxic in excessive amounts. A safe amount to take is 20 - 25 mg per day. Do not take more than 40 mg per day. Toxic effects are stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, cramps, and diarrhea.
Jason Homan

Generally there is no way to cause a copper deficiency taking 30mg of zinc per day. You would have to be exposed to large amounts of zinc daily before copper is excreted from your body. If you are still worried find a health food store that sells the Solaray brand of vitamins. Solaray makes a zinc / copper supplement that has the correct ratio of zinc to copper.
Hope this helps.

Taking large amounts of zinc (Zn) can cause a deficiency of copper (Cu) because Zn and Cu interact and a large excess of Zn leads to preferential absorption of Zn at the expense of Cu.

If you take the recommended amount of Zn on the container which is usually something like 25 mg a day you should be OK. Perhaps you can get a supplement containing Zn plus Cu. If you take something like 50 mg of Zn a day then you would probably need a Cu supplement as well.

One word of caution about Zn and that is that 80 mg a day is generally regarded as dangerous as too much Zn is toxic and you could end up with Zn poisoning.

In view of your interest in Zn you had better conduct a Yahoo search for zinc + toxic.