Is non-Indian childhood cirrhosis caused by excess dietary copper?
Indian childhood cirrhosis is generally believed to be caused by toxic excesses of hepatic copper derived from milk boiled in copper vessels. Sporadic cases of a disorder indistinguishable from Indian childhood cirrhosis have appeared in other countries where the toxic hepatic copper has been thought to be derived from drinking water. In published reports of seven 2-year-old or younger infants with non-Indian childhood cirrhosis (five of whom died), the copper content of their drinking water—which the authors considered the essential, if not the sole, aetiological factor—ranged from 0·05 to 6·8 mg Cu/L.
