THE MOST IGNORED PROTOCOL
This is the most ignored protocol. Yet it is fundamental to anyone trying to recover from chronic fatigue, regardless of immune suppression and stealth infections like Lyme, EBV and Long Covid. This is so basic that it undercuts everything else. It is backed by solid science but has been consistently ignored or dismissed by both conventional and complementary health providers. That is why it is important for you to get this information, especially if you are suffering from fatigue. It is simple to apply alongside other interventions. Please read on to find out what it is…
RCP - Root Cause Protocol
We know that infections and immune suppression kick a huge hole in the energy bucket. But what most people don’t realise is that a set of core mineral imbalances creates an immune-suppressed environment that favours chronic, persistent infections rather than effective pathogen clearance. These core mineral imbalances are copper, magnesium, iron and caeruloplasmin (the taxi that transports copper round the body).
The Root Cause Protocol (RCP) was developed by biochemistry expert and researcher Morley Robbins. RCP emerged from his attempt to understand why iron dysregulation and chronic illness persisted despite “normal” lab ranges.
What troubled him was that people were routinely told they were “iron deficient” yet iron supplementation made them feel worse and they continued to suffer from chronic fatigue, infections, thyroid issues and inflammation despite “normal labs.” He then began questioning the iron deficiency paradigm.
The Key Insight: Iron Overload at Tissue Level
Through studying biochemistry and mineral metabolism, Robbins concluded that most chronically ill people are not iron deficient, they are iron dysregulated. Iron accumulates in tissues while appearing “low” or “normal” in blood tests. This led him to focus on iron mismanagement, not iron lack.
Discovery of the Copper-Iron Axis
Robbins’s pivotal insight was the role of caeruloplasmin, the body’s transport taxi for copper to get round the body. He observed that caeruloplasmin is needed to safely move iron as well and that low bioavailable copper means low caeruloplasmin. The result means iron trapped in tissues creating rusting damage inside cells. The medical name for this is “oxidative stress.” This model aligns with the condition known as “anaemia of chronic disease,” infection-driven sequestration of iron (iron in the wrong places in the body causing inflammation), and mitochondrial dysfunction (shortage of energy produced in the energy factories of the cells).
Why Magnesium Became Foundational
Robbins then recognised the role that magnesium plays into making cellular energy. Copper metabolism, adrenal gland function (that makes stress hormones) and enzyme (chemical catalyst) activity are magnesium-dependent. Modern diets are profoundly magnesium-deficient and calcium-rich. Thus, magnesium is a cornerstone of RCP.
The Role of Retinol (vitamin A)
Another major influence was older literature showing that retinol is needed to load copper onto its transport taxi caeruloplasmin. Vitamin A deficiency mimics copper deficiency and copper supplementation without adequate retinol is ineffective. This insight explained why giving copper often “doesn’t work” clinically. I should point out that the retinol in RCP specifically means vitamin A from animal sources. Plant sources of vitamin A (beta-carotene and other carotenoids) do not work as a reliable substitute as they must be converted into retinol in the body. That conversion is frequently impaired by copper deficiency, low caeruloplasmin, chronic inflammation or infection and other factors.
That is why someone can eat plenty of carrots and greens yet still behave biochemically like they’re vitamin-A deficient. Without retinol, copper cannot be loaded onto caeruloplasmin and iron remains mismanaged. Result - continuing fatigue. As plant-based Vitamin A (beta-carotene) is very different from retinol, there is no way unfortunately to fully implement RCP and remain vegetarian or vegan unless being willing to use cod liver oil (a good source of retinol). Therefore, the retinol component of RCP remains the biggest challenge to vegetarians and vegans.
The Importance of Copper
Copper is crucial because it helps the thyroid work properly, powers the body’s energy factories (mitochondria), manages iron safely and tells it where to go in the body, as well as keeping the immune system healthy and keeping infections under control. The vast majority (99%) of my patients with chronic stealth infections and immune suppression have low caeruloplasmin and unusable copper on their lab results. For this reason, I like to run the Iron-Copper Profile lab test on every patient.
The Goal of RCP
The goal of RCP is to increase energy. This is done by getting more usable copper into cells by supporting caeruloplasmin, reducing excess iron that “rusts” and stresses the body, and converting magnesium so that the body can make energy efficiently.
The exact steps of how to apply RCP are in the RCP (Root Cause Protocol) Handbook which is free to download online if you google “RCP Handbook download.” They involve a list of Stops (foods and supplements to stop taking which interfere with the function of caeruloplasmin and use of copper) and Starts (foods and supplements to start taking which support caeruloplasmin, use of copper and proper mineral balance). For example, stop high dose synthetic vitamin C (ascorbic acid) which can strip copper from caeruloplasmin or temporarily lower caeruloplasmin activity and start taking a natural form of vitamin C which doesn’t damage copper metabolism. Another example is to stop zinc supplementation as zinc and copper compete with each other in the body. More zinc can lower copper. This is one reason why I don’t like multi preparations which throw everything in but the kitchen sink! For more information on synthetic and natural nutrient preparations, please explore RCP Handbook online.
RCP is a self-paced framework, not a rigid “one-size- fits-all” protocol with the goal of enhancing health and wellbeing. It should be tailored to the exact biochemical needs of the patient. A healing journey is not just a straight line. There can be a number of bumps along the way.
RCP and Diet
Eating healthily is a cornerstone of RCP. In his book Cure Your Fatigue (Cu is the chemical name for copper), Morley Robbins emphasises the groundbreaking nutritional research done by dentist and “father of nutrition” Dr Weston A. Price last century. Dr Price travelled to remote communities all over the globe untouched by the standard western diet but who ate the the nutrient-dense foods of their own regions. He found populations free of degenerative diseases, tooth decay and living active productive lives into old age. Health declined dramatically when the “displacing foods of modern commerce” like white bread and sugar were introduced by western traders.
Morley outlines the common denominators of the health-giving diets researched by Dr Price. They all regularly ate some sort of animal food, whether meats, poultry, fish/shellfish, eggs, unpasteurised butter, insects/ants (in the case of the Masai tribes of Kenya and Tanzania). Organ meats were particularly common in their diets and Morley advocates eating grass-fed organic beef liver as one of the richest sources of bioavailable copper, not to mention choline, retinol, hyuralonic acid and more. The key is to eat it from cows fed on their natural diet of grass. I get mine from a local butcher. Morley call it “a blockbuster component of RCP” and urges readers to give it a fair trial.
Organ Meats: The Blockbuster of RCP
Too often I mention this to patients and get a response of shock horror, “I couldn’t possibly eat this!” Why would that be? People’s aversion to organ meats today is mostly cultural, psychological, and industrial, not because organ meats are unhealthy. For most of human history, they were actually the most prized foods, used as pre-conception foods to build strong bodies. Organ meats are Nature’s Multivitamin as they provide nutrients that are rare or absent in muscle meat or poorly absorbed from plants. Organ meats naturally provide copper to balance zinc, iron in usable form for the body, trace minerals that prevent deficiencies. You need to get a good recipe! Modern refined diets are high in zinc, low in copper, low in retinol (Vitamin A). This imbalance contributes to anaemia, immune dysfunction, thyroid and nervous system diseases.
Why This Matters Today
Avoiding organ meats today means many people try to replace them with synthetic supplements, struggle with mineral imbalances (especially copper, iron and B12), and develop food sensitivities and chronic unchecked infections due to micronutrient deficiency. Hence, RCP recommendations of synthetics to avoid, and natural nutrient support and real foods to start. It is not only based on biochemistry but historical common sense.
Why Is RCP So Often Ignored?
The RCP protocol is so often ignored, not because it lacks biological rationale, but because it directly contradicts several pillars of modern nutritional and medical dogma. It challenges the long-standing fear of saturated fat and cholesterol, reintroduces retinol-rich foods like liver that have been wrongly framed as toxic, emphasises copper balance in a culture obsessed with zinc supplementation, and relies on food-based nutrient restoration rather than pharmaceuticals or
synthetic supplements. The RCP approach to high doses of Vitamin D supplementation are particularly difficult for Functional Medicine practitioners to get their heads around as we have all prescribed synthetic vitamin D to get patients’ results in the upper third of the therapeutic range for infection fighting. Yet maybe there is a more effective way to optimise Vitamin D as Morley stresses that vitamin A (retinol) and Vitamin D normally coexist in nature, not alone. It is worth having an open mind and taking a fresh look at the vitamin D issue and I am still absorbing all the science.
Because it doesn’t fit neatly into randomised drug-trial models, RCP cannot be patented, and forces a reevaluation of entrenched assumptions about fat-soluble vitamins, mineral relationships, and metabolic regulation, it is easier for institutions to dismiss than to seriously investigate.
Proof of the Pudding
However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. At first, I was like so many practitioners who dismissed Morley’s research as a lone voice challenging too many established nutritional pillars. Then, I read his book Cure Your Fatigue and felt he had some good points based on sound, perhaps forgotten science. Then I tried it myself, and noticed more stamina and energy. Then, I recommended it to patients and those that did it, reported back that they had less fatigue and more energy.
If you would like to reduce your fatigue and enhance your wellbeing, get on top of chronic infections or a thyroid/adrenal condition, I recommend that you download RCP Protocol online and have a thorough read through. If you want to find out more, Morley Robbins has also just published the second edition of Cure Your Fatigue which contains new chapters. Happy reading!
If you are suffering from chronic fatigue or conditions, and would like to find out why, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health,
Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)
M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC
The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG
Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755
Disclaimer:
All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.