This Essential Trace Element Helps Prevent Grey Hair and Wrinkles

Yet, “between one-quarter to one-half of Americans fail to reach Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) recommendations.” (The World's Healthiest Foods website)

Copper plays an important role in keeping our skin elastic, and giving our hair, eyes, and skin their color.

from https://draxe.com/copper-deficiency/

You only need a very small amount of copper in your diet, yet that seemingly insignificant trace of copper is integral to a remarkable number of vital bodily functions.

On the web you will find lots of websites that celebrate the miracle health benefits of copper, but before acting it's important to get informed.

The World's Healthiest Foods website will give you a good overview of dietary sources of copper, and a general overview of copper and health. Here is a quick nutritional reference overview .

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=53

A Little Goes a Long Way

If you frequently eat beef liver, oysters, and shrimp you need not worry about reaching DRI recommendations for copper (Adults 19+ years: 0.9 mg [900 micrograms] WHF website).

Beef liver, 3 oz: 12,400 micrograms! :-0
Oyster meat, 3 oz: 3,630 micrograms
Crab meat, cooked, 3 oz: 1,005 micrograms
From www.medicalnewstoday.com

Too much copper is actually harmful, thus there is a logical reason why liver meat would have such high concentrations of copper:

“The liver plays an important role in the disposition of copper. Most dietary copper passes through the liver where it can be used for protein and energy production or excreted through the biliary route. Because copper is a prooxidant, its intracellular handling is tightly managed.” (American Society for Clinical Nutrition)

We are used to reading about antioxidants, so before rushing off to up your copper intake, keep in mind the fact that copper is a prooxidant. Yet despite being a prooxidant, it is also an important component for essential enzymes, including vital antioxidant enzymes.

The Examine website will give you a very sobering look at copper, and a recognition of the need to approach supplementation with the necessary knowledge and caution.

https://examine.com/supplements/copper/

Dr. Axe offers a more accessible overview of copper that concentrates more on the positives.

https://draxe.com/copper-deficiency/

Copper & Zinc

As with many vitamins and minerals, interactions can impact absorption. For example, copper and zinc have a ying/yang relationship. If you have, for example, been supplementing with zinc for a long time, that might well have had an impact on your copper levels. High doses of vitamin C can also impact copper retention and absorption.

For that reason I take a small zinc supplement at night to lessen the interference with my copper absorption.

The examine website even goes into the difference between the absorption of copper from water vs. food.

Copper Water in the Ayurvedic Medical Tradition

Storing water overnight in a copper vessel and drinking a glass or two in the morning is a tradition that is common in India.

http://yogadigest.com/copper-water-vessel/

Personally I think it is a good idea to own such a copper vessel for a few reasons.

In a situation where your water is compromised, and you don't own a purification system, copper water offers a degree of protection. In a scientific study, a copper vessel killed contaminated bacteria to a level where they were no longer detectable.

Also, it can offer a way to increase you copper intake (although personally I think it would be better to do this with food and allow the intestines to manage the uptake, rather than the stomach with water.) But it is best to be informed and discuss copper intake and supplementation with a health or nutrition professional.

Interestingly, I've read that many people with old copper pipes have a copper build up on their hair, and "bad hair days." My wife and I rise our hair with a glass of copper water after bathing and so far it has been one "good hair day" after another. Sometimes we will also wet a washcloth with copper water and topically apply copper to our skin during the day.

Liquid Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll is a excellent source of copper, and chlorophyll water is a craze. We began using it about a month ago, and taking the recommended dose of the brand we bought -- a teaspoon daily. Just one teaspoon contains over 4mg of copper. However, after digging a little deeper we opted to cut that down dramatically and reduced that to about 1/4 teaspoon.

Dose recommendations are highly varied, but we are adopting https://examine.com/supplements/copper/ cautious approach.

WHfood.com chart below

Grey Hair

Because of this study of rats, there are those who claim copper can cause hair to regain its former color.

The consensus is that adequate copper in balance with zinc prevents premature greying of hair, but it will not reverse it. Of course, there may be some lucky individuals who, like the rats in the study, get their hair color back.

There is a lot more, but I hope this post was helpful in piquing your interest in copper and diet.