Copper

Copper is a natural element in our world. It has been used for centuries in drinking glasses, cookware, tongue scrapers, and many other things. I thought it was just because it was durable and handled heat well and evenly, which is why I use copper cookware in my home.

However, I learned it has other benefits when I was reading the other day about some studies conducted on copper surfaces in an intensive care unit. With healthcare acquired infections being a huge problem in medical care facilities, I found this study very interesting.

They tested copper surfaces in intensive care units, and then measured the percentage of germs and bacteria in those rooms.

Here is a quote from the article:

“Results. The rate of HAI and/or MRSA or VRE colonization in ICU rooms with copper alloy surfaces was significantly lower than that in standard ICU rooms … Conclusions. Patients cared for in ICU rooms with copper alloy surfaces had a significantly lower rate of incident HAI and/or colonization with MRSA or VRE than did patients treated in standard rooms.” (1)

The study involved sixteen intensive care hospital rooms. They put copper surfaces in half (eight) of those rooms. The result was that the rooms with the copper surfaces had about half the rate of infectious germs, MRSA (methicillin resistant staph infections), etc., than the rooms that did not have the copper surfaces. Another study I read found that the bacteria counts found on copper surfaces were 83% less than non-copper surfaces. That is huge. That is wonderful and so easy to implement.

If you are remodeling a kitchen, I would think that copper surfaces would be a healthy countertop to install.

Furthermore, copper was believed throughout history to support the lymphatic system.

Fascinating.

So, in my own conclusion, using copper in our homes, in our pipes, and in our cookware or drinking glasses can have very positive results to our health.

Source: 1 – Copper surfaces reduce the rate of healthcare-acquired infections in the intensive care unit.

Article source: Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2013 May; 34(5):479-86. PMID: 23571364

Author(s): Cassandra D Salgado, Kent A Sepkowitz, Joseph F John, J Robert Cantey, Hubert H Attaway, Katherine D Freeman, Peter A Sharpe, Harold T Michels, Michael G Schmidt

Article Affiliation: Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina.

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