Copper is an essential nutrient in all plants and animals. The human body normally contains copper at a level of about 1.4 to 2.1 mg for each kg of body weight. In addition to being an essential nutrient for humans, copper is vital for the health of animals and plants and plays an important role in agriculture.
Copper is essential to human life and present in most foods, and is part of a balanced diet in healthy people. Because copper is a natural substance, the human body has evolved an extremely effective and well-developed internal regulatory mechanism to ensure that the copper we ingest is put to use and that any excess is harmlessly eliminated.
Nutritional Requirements for Copper: The recommended daily requirement of dietary copper is 1-2 mg. for adults and 0.5-1 mg. for children (source: US Dept. Agriculture).
