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The tolerable upper intake level (UL), or upper limit, for copper is 10 mg a day for adults 19 and older. That is the most a day that is unlikely to cause harm for almost everyone; above it, the chance of side effects goes up. It is a ceiling, not a target. The limit counts copper from food, water and supplements together.
Check your amount
Servings a day
This limit is the same for adults 19 and older, including pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Type the amount from your label to compare it with the upper limit.
Take more than one supplement? Add them all up in the Supplement Checker.
Copper upper limits by age
| Age | Males | Females | Pregnancy | Breastfeeding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth to 6 months | Not set | Not set | – | – |
| 7-12 months | Not set | Not set | – | – |
| 1-3 years | 1 mg | 1 mg | – | – |
| 4-8 years | 3 mg | 3 mg | – | – |
| 9-13 years | 5 mg | 5 mg | – | – |
| 14-18 years | 8 mg | 8 mg | 8 mg | 8 mg |
| 19-30 years | 10 mg | 10 mg | 10 mg | 10 mg |
| 31-50 years | 10 mg | 10 mg | 10 mg | 10 mg |
| 51-70 years | 10 mg | 10 mg | – | – |
| 71+ years | 10 mg | 10 mg | – | – |
No upper limit could be set for babies; the National Academies say their intake should come from food and formula only.
How much Copper you need
| Age | Males | Females | Pregnancy | Breastfeeding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth to 6 months | 200 mcg* | 200 mcg* | – | – |
| 7-12 months | 220 mcg* | 220 mcg* | – | – |
| 1-3 years | 340 mcg | 340 mcg | – | – |
| 4-8 years | 440 mcg | 440 mcg | – | – |
| 9-13 years | 700 mcg | 700 mcg | – | – |
| 14-18 years | 890 mcg | 890 mcg | 1,000 mcg | 1,300 mcg |
| 19-30 years | 900 mcg | 900 mcg | 1,000 mcg | 1,300 mcg |
| 31-50 years | 900 mcg | 900 mcg | 1,000 mcg | 1,300 mcg |
| 51-70 years | 900 mcg | 900 mcg | – | – |
| 71+ years | 900 mcg | 900 mcg | – | – |
* Adequate Intake (AI): the amount set when there isn’t enough evidence for an RDA.
What counts toward the Copper limit
The limit counts copper from food, water and supplements together.
Labels often list copper in mg: 1 mg = 1,000 mcg, so the adult limit of 10,000 mcg is 10 mg.
What happens with too much Copper
The National Academies based the adult UL for copper on liver damage, which the report selected as "the critical endpoint on which to base a UL," and took the intake with no observed adverse effects (10 mg/day) from a small 12-week, double-blind study by Pratt and coworkers (1985) in which seven adults took copper gluconate capsules. The report says liver damage in humans is seen "almost exclusively in patients with Wilson's disease" and in Indian childhood cirrhosis and idiopathic copper toxicosis, while beverages or drinking water containing high levels of copper have caused gastrointestinal illness with abdominal pain, cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. It relied on evidence from humans and experimental animals to pick liver damage as the endpoint, but judged the animal toxicity studies not useful for setting a UL for humans, and says the UL does not apply to people with Wilson's disease.
Sources: National Academies, Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc (2001); Health Canada, Dietary Reference Intakes tables (the joint U.S.-Canada values). Limits checked November 8, 2026. More from the NIH: Office of Dietary Supplements Copper fact sheet.
If you think you or a child took too much of a supplement, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (U.S., free, 24 hours) or use poison.org. In an emergency, call 911.
General information, not medical advice. Your doctor may recommend a different amount, for example to treat a deficiency. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before you start, stop or change a supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, take medication or have a medical condition.