Copper
Of 6,796 on-market copper products in the January 2026 DSLD dump, the median declared dose is 1,000 elemental mcg, and 39.9% list unspecified/undisclosed form as the primary form.
Form share
Of 6,635 products with an identifiable primary form, here is the share held by each form of Copper on the market today.
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| Form | Quality tier | n | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| unspecified/undisclosed form | Unrated | 2,646 | 39.9% |
| Copper Gluconate | Tier 2 | 1,405 | 21.2% |
| Copper Amino Acid Chelate | Tier 1 | 1,347 | 20.3% |
| Cupric Oxide | Tier 3 | 478 | 7.2% |
| Copper Citrate | Tier 2 | 423 | 6.4% |
| Copper Sulfate | Tier 2 | 336 | 5.1% |
Form share over time
Entry-year breakdown of the top forms, 2012–2025.
Dose distribution
Deciles of declared dose per serving (elemental mcg), among 6,577 products with a disclosed amount, against the RDA of 900 and UL of 10000.
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- 18.4% of products fall below the fairy-dust threshold (400 mcg, 20% of the studied low dose).
- 1.1% of products don't disclose an amount because Copper is declared inside a proprietary blend.
Where does your dose rank?
Enter a per-serving dose (elemental mcg) to see exactly how it compares to the 6,572 on-market copper products with a disclosed amount. The chart above groups doses into deciles; this looks up the exact percentile for one number.
By dosage form
By target group
Top brands
Search interest over time
How often people search for copper on Google, US only, the last 5 years. This is public interest, not DSLD label data — a spike here doesn't necessarily line up with anything on this page, and Google's own index (100 = that term's peak popularity in the chosen window) is relative, not an absolute search-volume count.
Or see this search directly on trends.google.com.
Forms explained
Label discloses only "Copper" with no salt form.
Elemental fraction: 14.0% (Cu(C6H11O7)2, anhydrous, MW 453.87)
Water-soluble, generally regarded as acceptably absorbed, but no dedicated head-to-head human bioavailability RCT was located.
Source: none located (no human head-to-head Cu gluconate absorption study found)
Elemental fraction: 79.9% (CuO, MW 79.55 (stoichiometric only -- actual bioavailable copper delivered is very low))
Provides essentially no bioavailable copper relative to CuSO4 per chick/rat data.
Source: Baker DH. 1999, J Nutr 129:2278-9, PMID 10573563
Elemental fraction: 25.4% (CuSO4 x 5H2O, pentahydrate ("blue vitriol", standard USP/commercial form; anhydrous at 0.398 also exists))
Used as the reference/comparator form in most animal copper-bioavailability research; highly soluble but not shown superior to organic/chelated forms.
Source: Kegley EB, Spears JW. 1994, J Anim Sci 72(10):2728-34, PMID 7883634 (cattle; CuSO4 ~ Cu lysine >> CuO), not a human study
Elemental fraction: 35.3% (Real ambiguity between two documented compounds: Cu3(C6H5O7)2 anhydrous (0.335) vs. Cu2(C6H4O7) x 2.5H2O hemipentahydrate, CAS 10402-15-0 (0.353, used here as the CAS-documented commercial solid))
Marketed as a bioavailable organic copper salt; no direct human comparative bioavailability RCT located.
Source: none located (no human comparative study found)
Elemental fraction: 30.0% (Cu(C2H4NO2)2, pure 1:2 stoichiometric chelate, MW 211.67 (AAFCO preferred ratio; commercial raw material may be diluted with excess glycine, lowering the actual %))
Copper glycinate was the form used in a human RCT (DiSilvestro 2012) that raised erythrocyte SOD1 and plasma ceruloplasmin.
Source: DiSilvestro RA et al. 2012, Metabolism 61(9):1242-6, PMID 22444781
Reference values
- RDA (adult): 900 elemental mcg
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (adult): 10000 elemental mcg — Based on protection from liver damage
- Studied clinical dose range: 2000–7800 mcg
- Low end: DiSilvestro RA et al. 2012, Metabolism 61(9):1242-6, PMID 22444781 -- 2mg Cu/day as copper glycinate x8wk in healthy middle-aged adults; raised erythrocyte SOD1/ceruloplasmin activity, no significant lipid/CRP/homocysteine change. High end: Turnlund JR et al. 2005, Am J Clin Nutr 81(4):822-8, PMID 15817858 -- 9 men given 7mg/day supplemental Cu for 129 days, then 7.8mg/day total intake during an 18-day metabolic-unit stay; homeostasis did not prevent retention of >0.6mg Cu/day, a signal of concern about sustained high intake.
- Note: Labels commonly show mg (1mg = 1000mcg); values here kept in mcg to match the ODS RDA/UL unit.