Return of the COPPER AGE

Copper bottles, copper jugs and copper mugs, the market reflects a growing demand for copper utensils to store water

HYDERABAD: TELANGANA: 31/07/2017: (for Metro Plus) Review of restaurant 'Sukhibhava' at Dilshuknagar in Hyderabad. Photo: G. Ramakrishna

As long as it is not plastic, it is good. Stainless steel is best, copper it seems is better. This isn’t about the copper coated serving bowls seen in restaurants. We are talking about bottles and water storage containers. What makes copper a good metal for water storage? Water stored in copper utensils is called Tamra Jal and it helps to balance all three elements (doshas — Kapha , Vata and Pitta ). The electro-magnetic energy of this metal makes the water ionic which helps to maintain body’s pH (acid-alkaline) balance.

If the demand in super markets and steel merchants are to be believed, then after selling a good quantity of steel boxes and bottles, they are making a fortune with copper jugs, glasses, and drinking water storage containers. Awareness of health and the need to return to the basics could be the reason of the ancient custom re-emerging. This could also be the reason why pure copper bottles are also in high demand online.

Apart from copper being considered an essential mineral to our body, the Indian Ayurveda system also recommends storing water overnight in a copper jug and drinking it first thing in the morning for good health. A health blog mentions, “According to a 2012 study published in

Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition , storing contaminated water in copper for up to 16 hours at room temperature considerably reduces the presence of the harmful microbes, so much that the researchers inferred that “copper holds promise as a point-of-use solution for microbial purification of drinking-water. An additional study from University of South Carolina researchers explored the purifying power of copper, finding that “Antimicrobial copper surfaces in intensive care units (ICU) kill 97% of bacteria that can cause hospital-acquired infections,” resulting in a 40% reduction in the risk of acquiring an infection. The research was done in a hospital ICU. The research found that the rooms with copper-surfaced objects had less than half the infection incidence than those rooms without copper.”

If advertisements on a brand of seamless copper bottles are to be believed the benefits of copper includes copper being brain stimulant, it aids in weight loss, it slows down ageing, copper has anti-inflammatory properties and the claim of copper having cancer fighting properties.

Copper has very strong antioxidant properties that helps fight off free radicals and negate their ill effects – one of the main reasons for the development of cancer. According to the American Cancer Society the exact mechanism of how copper helps prevent the onset of cancer is still not known but some studies have shown that copper complexes have a considerable anti-cancer effect.

Copper being highly reactive, it is recommended that only water is stored without any additives.

Copper care

Copper oxidises naturally and needs to be cleaned at regular intervals. The ideal way to clean copper include cleaning it with a mixture of salt and tamarind paste or fresh lemon juice. Alternately baking soda can also be used to clean it. Drying it in the sun will make the copper bottle shine further.