Copper and your body: what can you actually say? The 8 official EU claims

Why not every copper claim is allowed

A lot gets claimed about copper. Some claims are ancient, others were made up entirely by a webshop that got a little too enthusiastic. Fortunately you don't have to reinvent the wheel: in 2009 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) laid down exactly which health claims about copper are scientifically substantiated enough to be used. Eight claims made the final cut. No more, no less.

Those claims apply to copper as a nutrient, so in the context of food and supplements. We still think it's worth explaining them clearly here, because they tell you something real about why copper has had a fixed place in human nutrition for thousands of years, and why we find it so interesting to make products from it. Copper is no side issue in your body: it's a cofactor for enzymes involved in everything from energy production to the formation of connective tissue and neurotransmitters. The recommended daily amount is around 900 micrograms, a seemingly tiny number for a mineral that's active in so many places at once.

In short

• EFSA recognises eight official health claims for copper, laid down in Regulation (EU) No. 432/2012
• Those claims cover: protection against oxidative stress, the immune system, connective tissue, energy metabolism, the nervous system, hair pigmentation, skin pigmentation and iron transport
• The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for copper is around 900 micrograms per day
• Estimates (EAR) show that more than 25% of adults in North America fall short of the recommended copper intake
• All claims outside this list, such as about cholesterol or blood sugar, have been assessed by EFSA but not approved

The 8 official claims

According to Regulation (EU) No. 432/2012, based on EFSA's assessment, you may say the following about copper:

• Copper contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress
• Copper contributes to the normal function of the immune system
• Copper contributes to the maintenance of normal connective tissue
• Copper contributes to normal energy metabolism
• Copper contributes to the normal function of the nervous system
• Copper contributes to the maintenance of normal hair pigmentation
• Copper contributes to the maintenance of normal skin pigmentation
• Copper contributes to normal iron transport in the body

That's the complete list. Everything beyond that, from lowering cholesterol to regulating glucose, has been assessed by EFSA but not approved. If you come across those claims somewhere, you'll know: they're not on this list.

What those claims actually mean

Protection against oxidative stress

Copper is part of the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), one of your body's most important defence lines against harmful free radicals. SOD converts the aggressive superoxide radical into a less harmful substance, hydrogen peroxide. Without copper, that process doesn't work.

Immune system and connective tissue

Those same SOD enzymes also play a role in the maturation of immune cells. And copper is needed for lysyl oxidase, an enzyme that links collagen and elastin together: the building blocks of skin, blood vessels and connective tissue.

Energy metabolism and the nervous system

Cuproenzymes are involved in energy production in your cells. Copper is also needed for the production of myelin, the protective layer around nerve fibres that lets signals travel quickly and smoothly.

The biohack bridge: copper and mitochondria

For biohackers, the link with cellular energy is especially interesting. In the mitochondria, the energy factories of your cells, the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase uses copper to enable the final step of the respiratory chain. That's the route by which food energy is ultimately converted into ATP, the directly usable energy currency of your cells.

Copper is also part of superoxide dismutase, the SOD enzyme already mentioned above. That means one mineral touches on two central biohacking themes at once: energy production and redox balance. A scientific review on copper and mitochondrial function neatly brings these different roles together. This concerns copper as an essential dietary mineral; it's precisely that specific mechanism that makes the story interesting enough without confusing it with how an everyday object works.

Hair and skin pigmentation

The enzyme tyrosinase, which produces melanin, needs copper to function. Hence the link with the normal colour of your hair and skin.

Iron transport

And then perhaps the nicest one: copper is found in ceruloplasmin, the enzyme that helps transport iron from your liver stores into your blood. Without copper there's no proper iron balance, however strange that may sound at first.

Do these claims also apply to jewellery and drinkware?

A fair note, for completeness: these eight claims were assessed for copper as a nutrient, in products that meet the EU threshold of "source of copper", such as food and supplements. They can't simply be transferred one-to-one to a copper bracelet or drinking bottle, since that's a different legal category. The metal stays the same, but we think the distinction between "what copper does in your body" and "what a specific product may legally claim" is too important to skip.

What you'll hear about it beyond the EU claims

The eight EFSA claims aren't the only place where copper comes up when it comes to the body and energy. Beyond the official nutrition claims, copper also lives on in a few older and newer traditions, from crystal healing to biohacking. These are beliefs held by the people who use them, with their own history and their own sources, and we're happy to tell them here as they are: not as medical advice from Kopero, but as the story that has surrounded copper for decades.

Crystal healing and the chakra system

Within crystal healing, and more broadly within energy work, copper is seen as a conductor of life energy. That idea is older than you might think: wrapping precious metal wire around stones goes back to ancient Egypt, where jewellers around 2000 BC already wrapped gold around lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise as an amulet. When the metaphysical movement rose in the 1960s and 1970s, copper wire became the affordable successor to gold for wearing crystals in their natural form.

Within that tradition, copper is seen as a kind of bridge metal: it's said to carry and strengthen the intention of a stone, with each stone said to have its own vibration that the copper passes on. That's why copper wire is still the standard material for wrapping crystals, from simple pendants to elaborate wire-wrapped jewellery. The same idea lies behind crystal grids: geometric patterns of stones in which copper wire or rods connect the stones to each other, so their energy is said to work as one.

Within the chakra system, copper is most often linked to the Heart and Throat Chakra, the energy centres that in this tradition revolve around connection and expression. Some practitioners also make the link with the Root and Sacral Chakra, the centres of stability and zest for life. Coincidence or not: it's the same metal that, in physics, is also one of the best conductors of electricity. Those who work with crystals like to see that overlap as confirmation that copper is the right choice here.

Orgonite

A related tradition is orgonite: small objects in which a copper coil is cast in resin together with quartz. The basis lies in the orgone theory of psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich, who emigrated to the United States in 1939 and founded the Orgone Institute there in 1942. Reich believed in a universal life energy he called orgone, and built orgone accumulators to capture that energy and later apply it therapeutically. After his death in 1957, his student Charles Kelley continued the research into orgone.

In 1991, the Austrian Karl Hans Welz combined metal shavings with polyester resin into what he named orgonite. A few years later, Don and Carol Croft added a quartz crystal, the form you now most often encounter. According to the theory, the copper coil in the centre converts negative energy into something positive. It's a small, loyal tradition within the alternative health world, with its own history and makers who still cast orgonite by hand.

Biohacking and EMF shielding

Copper also shows up in the biohacking scene, there as a shielding material against electromagnetic radiation (EMF), worked into mesh for bedrooms, floors or even clothing. The technical part of that is ordinary electrical engineering: copper conducts and demonstrably shields electromagnetic fields, according to the same principle as a Faraday cage. That name comes from Michael Faraday, who discovered in 1836 that a conductive material bends electromagnetic fields around a space instead of letting them through.

What biohackers themselves add to that is the experience that this shielding also makes them sleep more comfortably or feel clearer, and that part remains their own belief. Well-known biohacker and podcaster Ben Greenfield discussed EMF shielding at home extensively on his podcast, with concrete tips on copper mesh, grounding and bedroom setup: the kind of practical knowledge that gets shared widely within the biohacking scene.

The scientific bridge to your skin: GHK-Cu

One copper compound does have solid published research behind it: GHK-Cu, a copper peptide that occurs naturally in human plasma, saliva and urine, and was discovered in the 1970s by biochemist Loren Pickart. The amount of GHK-Cu in your body decreases with age: around your twenties the plasma level averages around 200 nanograms per millilitre, dropping to around 80 by your sixties.

A 2018 study in the journal Cosmetics (publisher MDPI) showed that 70% of subjects produced measurably more collagen after twelve weeks of topical use of GHK-Cu, with an effect that in that study was stronger than with vitamin C or retinoic acid. The mechanism behind it has since been well mapped: GHK binds copper and delivers it to skin cells, where it serves as a cofactor for lysyl oxidase and related enzymes that link collagen and elastin together.

Important note: this concerns topical, cosmetic application on the skin, in a concentrated peptide form. It's a nice scientific bridge between copper and skin health, but not the same as wearing a copper piece of jewellery or drinking from a copper cup, and we deliberately don't want to blur those two together. What it does show: copper plays a demonstrable role at the cellular level in skin and connective tissue, which ties in nicely with the official EFSA claim about normal connective tissue mentioned above.

What this means for Kopero

We don't make medical products and never will claim to. Our copper cups, mugs and bracelets aren't there to fix a deficiency or cure an ailment. But it's nice to know that the metal we've worked with for years is simply an essential part of how your body functions, recognised by the EU itself. Anyone who starts the morning with water from a copper jug is, at the very least, drinking from something with a story that reaches further than a passing trend.

Curious now? Check out our Kopero premium copper water bottle, Kopero premium copper bracelet, Kopero premium copper mug and Kopero premium copper cup, or browse the full range.