Medical Uses

Copper Applications in Health & Environment

Since 1934, it has been known that individuals suffering from such diseases as scarlet fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis, arthritis and malignant tumors exhibit an elevation of copper in their blood. Since then, the list has been extended to fever, wounds, ulcers, pain, seizures, cancers, carcinogenesis, diabetes, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, irradiation and tissue stresses, including restricted blood flow. This suggests that this redistribution of copper in the body is responding to physiological, disease, or injury stress. It may be that these natural copper complexes promote the relief of stress and the repair of tissues. So in addition to the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activity of inorganic copper compounds as recognized by the ancients, copper has medicinal capabilities that are key to the healing process itself.

Copper is known to be an essential element in the human body. Copper complexes have shown to have a beneficial effect in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Copper has been used to successfully treat patients with arthritic and other chronic degenerative diseases. Anti-inflammatory agents (aspirin and ibuprofen, for example) have been shown to be more active than their parent compounds. Copper aspirinate has been shown not only to be more effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis than aspirin alone, but it has been shown to prevent or even cure the ulceration of the stomach often associated with aspirin therapy.

Ulcer and Wound-Healing Activities of Copper Complexes

It has been demonstrated that copper complexes show markedly increased healing rates of ulcers and wounds. For example, copper complexes heal gastric ulcers five days sooner than other agents. Further, it has been shown that, whereas anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen suppress wound healing, copper complexes of these drugs promote normal wound healing while at the same time retaining anti-inflammatory activity.

Anticonvulsant Activities of Copper Complexes

The brain contains more copper than any other organ of the body except the liver. This fact suggests that copper plays a role in brain functions. With reports of seizures in animals and humans following copper-deficient diets, it was reasoned that copper has a role to play in the prevention of seizures. It was subsequently discovered that organic compounds that are not themselves anti-convulsants exhibit anticonvulsant activity when complexed with copper. Further, it was found that copper complexes of all anti-epileptic drugs are more effective and less toxic than their parent drugs.

Anticancer Activities of Copper

As early as 1912, patients were treated for skin cancer with a mixture of copper chloride and lecithin. Success of such treatment suggested that copper compounds have anticancer activity. Work at the University of Liverpool in 1913 demonstrated that injections of a copper salt softened and degenerated carcinomas transplanted into mice. In 1930, work in France indicated that injections of colloidal copper expelled tumor tissue. Recent work with mice in the USA has shown that, indeed, treatment of solid tumors with complexes of copper markedly decreased tumor growth and increased survival rate. These copper complexes did not kill cancer cells... but caused them to revert to normal cells.

Cancer preventing Activity of Copper Complexes

Based on work in the treatment of cancers using copper complexes, researchers have found that these same complexes may prevent or retard the development of cancers in mice under conditions where cancers are expected to be induced.

Heart Disease and Copper Complexes

Numerous studies have drawn attention to the relationship between copper deficiency and heart disease. Copper has a direct effect on the control of cholesterol. It is believed that a metabolic imbalance between zinc and copper is a major cause of coronary heart disease. Investigators have shown that copper complexes can also have a valuable role in the minimizing damage to the heart muscle following a heart attack. This action is based on the anti-inflammatory action of copper. These and other studies suggest the use of copper dietary supplements as a means of preventing and controlling such diseases as coronary heart disease. It has been speculated that the reason that the heart attack rate in France is lower than in the rest of Europe is because of the French practice of drinking red wine. Red wine has a higher copper content than white wine because it is prepared with the skin of the grape intact. The copper originates in the wine from the copper fungicides used on the grapes in the field.

Based on an abundance of historical data such as the foregoing, many researchers anticipate that copper will become an increasingly important component of tomorrow's medical treatments.