Kidney Meatloaf with Shitakes was so popular last weekend, I’m selfishly posting so I can find it later. Surprise, surprise, we’re not eating tons of liver right now. In fact, we’re enjoying other organs still available from our local farmers during this collective exhale. After diving into Chris Masterjohn’s well-researched Food and Supplement Guide to Coronavirus last week, I wanted to share why we’re skipping extra liver right now and how we’re incorporating zinc and copper into our diet these days.
Skip the Vitamin A. Really?
Yep, you heard me right. While vitamin A is typically a go-to resource for boosting the immune system, in this case Chris Masterjohn explains that it may worsen viral symptoms of infection. Yes, liver (vitamin A powerhouse) has so many essential vitamins and minerals, we are still eating a 3-4 oz serving for our Monday night liver dinner (beef liver tacos this past week). However, we’re not adding in eggs, milk, cod liver oil, pate or extra sources of vitamin A during the remainder of the week.
As background, the current coronavirus is so similar to SARS that it was actually renamed SARS-Coronovirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) earlier this year. Along these lines, Masterjohn’s research relates these similiarities and what it reveals about how to investigate, prevent and treat the novel coronavirus. We know that SARS and SARS-CoV-2 both enter the body by attaching to an enzyme that is largely present in the lungs and small intestine.
Vitamin A upregulates this particular enzyme, called ACE2. This contributes to some of the benefits of vitamin A, such as regulating blood pressure. However, if we upregulate ACE2, then we actually increase our susceptibility to Covid-19, and the potential inflammation caused by an immune response. Besides a weekly maintenance dose of liver, Chris Masterjohn is limiting vitamin A in his diet. His science is compelling and I’m doing the same for my family as well. Besides, no one is complaining about the recent comeback of menudo and brain fritters!
Add in (Elderberry,) Zinc, and Copper
In the meantime, elderberry syrup has shown “virucidal, anti-plaque, anti-replication and anti-attachment activity” toward other coronaviruses. Masterjohn notes that one constituent of elderberry, “caffeic acid[,] directly binds to ACE2 to prevent viral docking, offering strong support that elderberry would have similar antiviral effects against SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2.” So that seems like a good addition to a preventative protocol. But I digress in the name of sharing a key insight.
My focus here is on zinc and copper as powerful dietary additions. Zinc and copper inhibit the proteins needed for viral replication of SARS once it is contracted, and that is likely also be true for SARS-CoV-2. As Masterjohn notes, “while zinc ions may be much stronger than copper ions at inhibiting enzymes involved in viral replication, copper ions seem to be far more directly toxic to [this] virus.”
Masterjohn provides more details related to zinc and copper, noting that the acceptable zinc-to-copper ratio is from “2:1 to 15:1, while staying within the upper limit of [copper at]10 mg/d.” This gets a little tricky, but essentially he recommends 7-15mg of zinc several times a day and 4-8mg of copper in total per day.
As a final tangent, he does include allicin, among other constituents, in his personal protocol. I’ve written previously about the benefits of allicin and how to best extract it from garlic here.
Zinc and Copper in Practice
To incorporate Masterjohn’s zinc recommendation, we’ve added a couple of oysters before each meal. We’re eating Crown Prince Smoked Oysters, available at Trader Joes.  In his Food and Supplement Guide, Masterjohn notes,
[T]he best way to maximize the amount of zinc… is to eat one or two oysters three or four times per day… Never take your zinc with whole grains, nuts, seeds, or legumes (which include lentils, peas, and beans). These foods can block your ability to absorb the zinc. Instead, take it on an empty stomach if you can… Keep your zinc intake this high while the threat of the coronavirus is high or uncertain. When the threat subsides, reduce the amount of zinc you get… to about 15 milligrams per day, which is what we need for general health.
Since we are taking oysters for zinc, that provides 2 mg of daily copper needs. For the balance, Masterjohn notes that “each of the following [foods] contain [another] 2 mg: 25 grams of spirulina, 40 grams of shitake mushrooms, 50 grams of sesame seeds, 50 grams of cocoa powder, 56 grams of 90 percent dark chocolate, 70 grams of 70 percent dark chocolate.”
A 4 oz package of shitakes contains 113 grams – easily enough copper for two people for a day. They are already a staple in our home and we’ve added them to ramen, shepard’s pie, and over hamburgers.
Incidentally, another option is adding a couple of squares of dark chocolate for dessert. Eating half of a 3.5 oz (100g) bar of 90 percent dark chocolate seems excessive to me. And I prefer savory vehicles such as chocolate chili with cocoa powder and mole-like spices added to ground beef. However, we’ve added a guilt-free square as a simple pleasure a couple of times in the past week.
Oysters, Kidney Meatloaf with Shitakes, and Dark Chocolate
So back to Kidney Meatloaf with Shitakes for dinner…
This recipe has 1 oz of kidney per serving for .8 mg of zinc and only a trace of copper. A couple of oysters on an empty stomach, as an appetizer will provide recommended zinc. And 12 oz of shitakes in the recipe provides 42 grams of skitakes (just over 2 mg of copper) to each serving. Serve Kidney Meatloaf with Shitakes alongside homemade ketchup as well as salad and potatoes – skipping grains and legumes to best absorb these minerals. Finally, finish with just a bite of 90% dark chocolate – as gravy on your copper intake.
Besides, Kidney Meatloaf with Shitakes is a great alternative to liver for the time being. Without the vitamin A, kidney is relatively high in B-vitamins, which can be depleted by stress.
In the meantime, take care, beautiful people! Embrace this collective pause for what it is – an opportunity to rest, learn about ourselves and each other, and see things in new ways.
Kidney Meatloaf with Shitakes
Ingredients
For the cooked shitake mushrooms
- 2 T butter
- 12 oz shitake mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 t salt
- juice of half lemon
For the Kidney Meatloaf
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb kidney, trimmed and ground
- 2 t salt
- 1/2 t fennel seeds
- 1 t oregano
- 1/4 c chopped parsley
- 12 oz shitake mushrooms, cooked and roughly chopped
- 1 T gelatin
- 1 t butter or other fat (to grease loaf pan)
- ~2T softened butter (or other spreadable fat such as chicken smaltz, lard, or ghee (optional to cover)
Optional ketchup (from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions for Kids)
- 7 oz jar of tomato paste
- 1/4 c apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 c maple syrup
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/2 t allspice
- dash of cayenne
Instructions
For the cooked shitake mushrooms
- Melt butter in a pan on medium heat, add shitakes, salt and lemon juice and mix everything together. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, remove lid, turn heat to medium-high. Allow juices to evaporate and cook until mushrooms are nicely browned, another 8-10 minutes or so, while stirring occasionally.
For the Kidney Meatloaf
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
- Meanwhile, mix ground beef, ground pork and ground kidney in a large bowl, along with salt, fennel seeds, oregano, and chopped parsley. Once shitakes are cooked, roughly chop, and add to meat and herbs. Lastly, mix gelatin with 2 tablespoons water, add to meat, and mix all ingredients well.
- Grease a 9x5 loaf pan with butter and fill with meat mixture. Optionally spread a layer of softened fat over the top of the meatloaf to minimize drying out while cooking. Cook at 250 degrees until center reaches 160 degrees - a couple of hours. (Start checking temp after 75 minutes or so and cover loosely with foil if top is browning too quickly.) Let cool, slice and serve with optional ketchup.
Optional ketchup
- Mix all ingredients in pint jar and stir well.
For clarity, are you certain whether Masterjohn is referring to fresh or dry shiitakes?
@Maureen, sorry for the belated reply – I had missed this earlier. He only mentions shitakes in grams and does not specify fresh or dried. I had assumed fresh. And going back to this, I still imply fresh from his writing since the same quantity dried seems egregious and he is trying to make doable recommendations.