Is Copper Good for You to Wear?: The Top Scientific Benefits of Wearing Copper
When you’re dealing with joint pain, an iron deficiency, or cardiovascular disease, what do you do? If you’re like most, you probably talk to your doctor about potential treatment plans and maybe reach for a solution inside your medicine cabinet, like a pain reliever, iron supplements, or high blood pressure medicine.
However, could the solution to some of your health needs be hiding in your jewelry box? Wearing copper jewelry — and wearing copper bracelets in particular — is purported to provide myriad health benefits.
What You Will Learn
Does Wearing a Copper Bracelet Benefit Your Health?
Copper isn’t just pennies. Copper is a naturally occurring mineral that can be found in your body right now. According to Healthline, while there’s not a large amount of copper in your body, the small amounts that are there are necessary for functions such as:
- Building red blood cells
- Building bone
- Building connective tissue
- Building enzymes
- Processing cholesterol
- Immune function
- Fetal development
MedicineNet lists even more bodily functions that copper helps support, such as:
- Iron utilization
- Nerve function
- Skin pigmentation
- Energy production
As Healthline explains, you should get about 900 mcgs of copper every day, with that amount increased if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.
Copper is naturally found in copper rich foods such as:
- Liver
- Seafood like oysters and lobsters
- Spirulina
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Nuts and seeds like almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, and sesame seeds
- Greens like kale, spinach, and Swiss chard
- Dark chocolate
- Potatoes
Beyond just getting your recommended daily copper intake and the healing properties of copper through your diet and supplements, you can also purportedly reap these benefits by wearing copper jewelry tools.
How exactly does this happen? The theory is that your skin absorbs tiny particles of copper as you wear the copper jewelry, whether a copper bracelet, copper earrings, etc.
The Ancient Origins of Wearing a Copper Bracelet for Health
Taking advantage of copper wear benefits is nothing new. This remedy has ancient origins, as the Copper Development Association Inc. explains.
According to the association, people were experiencing the benefits of copper jewelry as early as 2200 B.C.E. The Egyptian medical text, the Smith Papyrus, recommends using copper to sterilize wounds and drinking water. A later Egyptian text lists even more uses for copper, including to treat headaches, burn wounds, and itchy skin. (Though, technically, ancient doctors weren’t using copper jewelry specifically for these treatments; instead, they were using more general pieces of copper, such as copper shards and shavings).
While these are the earliest recorded uses of copper for health benefits, the association lists further textual evidence for copper’s use in medicine throughout history and worldwide.
The Top Benefits of Wearing Copper Jewelry
So, what are the benefits of wearing copper?
Unfortunately, most reliable sources agree that you must ingest the copper through your diet or supplements to see any of the benefits above of increased copper levels in the body. Just wearing copper jewelry alone isn’t enough to make a difference; multiple studies support this.
Sad But True: Falsely Claimed Benefits of Wearing Copper
One of the most widely claimed copper jewelry benefits? Relief from stiff and ore joints and arthritis pain. Sellers claim that copper’s anti inflammatory properties help combat the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.
However, as the New York Times reported, one double-blind study in 2013 asked participants to wear copper bracelets, magnetic bracelets, and placebos and found that there was no difference in the participants’ experiences, whether they were wearing the placebos or one of the supposed beneficial bracelets.
That said, MedicalNewsToday references the same study and points out that copper bracelets can have a placebo effect and make wearers feel less pain than they might normally. If this is an effective pain relief remedy for you, then there’s no harm whatsoever in wearing a copper bracelet. In fact, under these instances, you could say there are benefits of wearing copper bracelet jewelry, placebo or not.
Even better news? Don’t forget that you can still get all the above benefits of copper by taking it as a supplement. Studies have linked copper to:
- Improved cardiovascular function
- Improved neuron signaling
- Better immune system function
- Higher bone mineral density
- Increased collagen production
- Reduction in free radical production
Who Should Not Ingest Copper?
Don’t be hasty to buy copper supplements and begin taking them as often as you like, though. MedicalNewsToday cautions that copper supplements can interfere with other supplements and pharmaceuticals, such as:
- Birth control pills
- Hormone therapy
- NSAIDs
- Penicillamine
- Allopurinol
- Cimetidine
- Zinc
Copper toxicity is also a risk, though rare unless you take excessive supplements or are exposed to high amounts of copper in your environment, such as in chemicals, drinking water, or cookware.
Wearing Copper Benefits FAQs
Do Copper Bracelets Benefits Include Pain Relief?
While studies have not proven that wearing copper health benefits includes pain relief, some indicate that wearing a copper bracelet can have a placebo effect that reduces perceived pain. If you wear a copper bracelet and feel it lessens your pain, there’s no harm in continuing.
Do the Benefits of Copper Bracelet Wearing Outweigh the Risks?
There are no risks to wearing copper every day. Copper toxicity is only a concern if you’re ingesting large amounts of copper or being exposed to large amounts of copper in your environment.
Are Copper or Magnetic Bracelets Better?
Copper and magnetic bracelets are often compared and contrasted, as they’re purported to offer similar benefits. However, magnetic bracelets aren’t scientifically proven to offer documented health benefits like copper bracelets
Protect Your Health, Protect Your Jewelry
If you spend a substantial amount of time researching and reading about the top ways to protect your health, whether that be by taking supplements, wearing certain natural materials like copper, or via any other method, take a few moments to think about showing the same degree of care to another critical area of your life — protecting your valuable assets.
If you own high-value (whether that value is monetary or sentimental) jewelry, now’s the time to protect it with affordable and convenient jewelry-specific insurance through BriteCo. Learn more about our coverage, and check out our blog for more info and articles on all things jewelry.
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