Copper
An essential trace mineral, needed in tiny amounts for blood, nerves and pigment.
- Topping copper up
- Cholesterol and blood fats
A plain-English overview, not advice. Written from published reviews and trials and from what people say in public forums.
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On this page
What is copper?
Copper is a trace mineral the body needs in very small amounts, and it does almost all of its work inside enzymes rather than on its own. Those enzymes make haemoglobin, oxidise iron so the body can move it about, take part in cellular respiration and in antioxidant defence, and help form pigments and connective tissue. As a supplement it is sold as a salt or a chelate - gluconate, bisglycinate, citrate, sulphate or oxide - with the amount on the label given as elemental copper. Clinicians have reported copper running low more often over the past few decades, from causes both inherited and acquired, which is part of why it is sold on its own at all.
Why do people take copper?
Topping copper up
The thinking. Copper on its own is usually bought to keep a supply topped up rather than for anything a person expects to feel. It works only through the enzymes it is built into, so those enzymes need a steady supply to be made at all; where someone stands is judged from the copper in their blood and from ceruloplasmin, the protein that carries most of it around.
What research has found. Two small trials in healthy adults gave copper by mouth and measured those blood proteins. Eight weeks of 2 mg a day lifted the activity of two of them where a dummy tablet did not, though the same trial found no change in cholesterol, C-reactive protein or homocysteine. Two months of 8 mg a day moved one carrier protein consistently and three others in patterns the researchers said needed further work. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.
Cholesterol and blood fats
The thinking. Copper’s place in anything to do with the heart rests on an older idea: that a mild shortfall changes the way the body handles fats, and that such a shortfall is common among adults in Western countries. The link had been reported often enough for researchers to ask whether topping copper up would show in a cholesterol test, though the picture in people had always looked uncertain.
What research has found. A review pooled five randomised trials covering 176 people between them and found no significant difference in total, LDL or HDL cholesterol between copper and a dummy tablet. A six-month trial of 8 mg a day in 60 healthy men came out the same way: cholesterol drifted in both groups, the gap between them never reached significance, and liver enzymes were unchanged too. Research here is still young: a few studies so far, mostly pointing the same way.
What does copper do in the body?
Copper is not a fuel and the body does not store it up. It crosses from food into the cells lining the gut through a dedicated doorway, CTR1, is handed out into the blood by a pump called ATP7A, and travels around mostly bound to ceruloplasmin. Inside a cell it is not left to wander: small carrier proteins called chaperones walk it to whichever enzyme is waiting for it.
Copper and iron are handled as a pair. Ceruloplasmin oxidises iron, the step that lets iron leave the body’s stores and get into circulation, and when iron runs low copper is moved towards the places that regulate it - the lining of the upper gut, the liver and the blood. The same job matters in the brain, where copper’s effect on that enzyme shapes how much iron sits in tissue; copper is also released when nerve cells fire, and can change the receptors they signal through.
What do people say about taking copper?
These are anecdotes people have shared, not evidence.
What people like
- Most of these threads open with a blood test: copper or ceruloplasmin came back low or low-normal, and a tablet followed.
- In three threads people tie copper to a long run of zinc, describing the tablet as putting back what the zinc pushed down.
- Nerve symptoms are what people most hope will shift - tingling, weak legs, cramps - and a couple describe improvement within weeks.
- Grey hair is the other draw: in the one thread about it, a couple describe their hair darkening over several months.
- Three of the five threads come from chronic-illness communities, where people are chasing a symptom rather than topping a mineral up.
Common complaints
- In two threads people report noticing nothing at all after weeks on copper, and cannot say what, if anything, it did.
- Unwanted effects turn up in three threads - irritability, headaches, dry skin, ringing ears, gut upset - and one person stopped.
- Worry about overdoing it recurs, usually beside the point that too much copper is said to cause nerve trouble as well as too little.
- Which test means what - serum copper, ceruloplasmin, red-cell copper - is argued over in most threads and never settled.
How people take it
- Two milligrams a day is the amount named again and again, sometimes three, and in one case four on a neurologist’s instruction.
- Spacing copper and zinc by several hours, one in the morning and one later, is the routine people describe most often.
- Chelated and gluconate forms are the ones people name, and a few say they deliberately avoid the inorganic salts.
- Food is offered as the alternative in three of the threads: liver and shellfish above all, then cocoa, nuts and molasses.
- Whether zinc matters at ordinary doses is disputed: some regard the balance as critical, another says the worry applies only to high doses.
Read from these public discussions:
- Anyone juggling iron, zinc, copper and selenium supplement timings? (Mumsnet, 2026)
- Interesting results supplementing copper, but also side effects (Phoenix Rising ME/CFS Forums, 2024)
- Am I low in Copper? (Phoenix Rising ME/CFS Forums, 2016)
- Copper works amazingly for grey hair! (Immortal Hair Forum, 2015)
- Copper Deficiency? (ALS Forums, 2011)
What forms of copper are there?
| Form | What’s different | Elemental copper by weight | Per serving, on products we list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper | Sold as a salt or a chelate: gluconate, bisglycinate, citrate, sulphate or oxide. | about 14.0 to 30.0 %, otherwise as the label states | 1.25 mg |
What else is worth knowing about copper?
- Copper and zinc interact: zinc can take the same doorway into the gut lining that copper uses. A review of 198 reported cases of copper running low found the two commonest causes were previous stomach surgery and excessive zinc intake, most often from zinc-rich denture cream rather than tablets. Blood signs of low copper came back over four to twelve weeks on copper; nerve symptoms only partly did.
- Swallowed copper is not usually a health concern at everyday amounts. A toxicology review found that large doses of soluble copper salts can upset the stomach quickly and, with repeated exposure, cause liver trouble in susceptible people; it set a reference dose of 0.04 mg per kilogram of body weight a day and said plainly that this was not meant to cover excessive supplement intake. In one trial, 8 mg a day for six months left liver enzymes unchanged in healthy men.
- Iron pulls the other way. A review of how the two minerals are handled together noted that high-dose iron supplements can deplete copper, and raised that particularly for pregnancy, where iron supplements are widely advised.
- Labels give the amount as elemental copper, and a serving may be more than one capsule. One review names the recommended daily amount as 900 micrograms and frames the aim as staying inside it - enough to avoid a shortfall, not so much as to tip the other way.
If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, check with a pharmacist or GP first.
The research behind this page (10 studies)
- Chaperones CCS, ATOX and COXIV responses to copper supplementation in healthy adults. (2012, randomised trial)
- A randomized trial of copper supplementation effects on blood copper enzyme activities and parameters related to cardiovascular health. (2012, randomised trial)
- Effects of Copper Supplementation on Blood Lipid Level: a Systematic Review and a Meta-Analysis on Randomized Clinical Trials. (2021, meta-analysis)
- Copper supplementation at 8 mg neither affects circulating lipids nor liver function in apparently healthy Chilean men. (2013, randomised trial)
- Critical Review of Exposure and Effects: Implications for Setting Regulatory Health Criteria for Ingested Copper. (2020, review)
- Copper deficiency anemia: review article. (2018, review)
- The Role of Zinc and Copper in Insulin Resistance and Diabetes Mellitus. (2020, review)
- Intersection of Iron and Copper Metabolism in the Mammalian Intestine and Liver. (2018, review)
- Copper and copper proteins in Parkinson's disease. (2014, review)
- Copper as Dietary Supplement for Bone Metabolism: A Review. (2021, review)
How much does copper cost?
That depends on the form and the pack, so we work out the price of the same dose of every copper product we can find and rank them.