# Can one absorb needed nutrients into one's system, through one's skin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456 "2011-04-15T05:35:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/21 "2011-04-15T13:59:44Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Well… I wouldn’t exactly say nutrients as Blake did. I mean, he’s technically right, but… …but since the OP was specifically asking about minerals such as copper it’s not just technically correct, it is absolutely correct and the only correct answer. When someone asks whether humans can absorb minerals such as copper though the skin, it is more than “technically correct” to point out that the answer is yes. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/22 "2011-04-15T14:13:15Z")
Isn’t there any anaology to be drawn between (a) absorbing nutrients through skin, and (b) absorbing medicines or hormones through the skin. Examples of the latter are common: prescription testosterone gel, patch-delivered contraceptives, Ben Gay, Aspercreme, nicotine patches, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/23 "2011-04-15T15:29:58Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > So, in short, we’re not really intended to go around soaking up stuff through the skin. I can be done in some cases, but is not ideal, certainly. And it only applies to molecules small enough and the right “shape” to enter, sometimes with the help of a primer. I recall a sad accident where a researcher was fiddling with some kind of mercury compound while wearing latex gloves. Latex is usually a very neutral element, thin and flexible but which keeps stuff off the skin. Sadly, mercury is not water-soluble or carbon-based, which is what Latex gloves are for. The combination of the latex particles and the mercury compount opened her skin gates and it soaked right inside her hand. She didn’t make it, although she didn’t even know she was sick for some time\*. [Dimethyl mercury](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethylmercury). The researcher in question was [Karen Wetterhahn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/24 "2011-04-15T15:42:03Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > [Dimethyl mercury](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethylmercury). The researcher in question was [Karen Wetterhahn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn). :eek: after reading the articles. Surprised that stuff hasn’t been weaponized. Too difficult to handle in field combat conditions, though … plus slow-acting. Gets the job done in the end, though. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/25 "2011-04-15T15:52:19Z")
\*\*Blake: \*\* I apologize if I gave you the impression that I hadn’t read your first post… in fact, I read it with keen interest, because you were confirming my own gut feeling about the answer. 😉 When I said, “So I can’t just…”, I meant in the sense that it would not constitute a sensible solution. My mother told me when I was a kid that verdigris, although lovely, was very poisonous. Wiki says, \*"The primary components \*(of verdigris) _are copper salts of acetate, carbonate, chloride, formate, hydroxide and sulfate. "_ Seeing as the salts aren’t suitable for ingestion, what form would an oral supplement of copper be in? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/26 "2011-04-15T16:21:41Z")
Several years back there was a big upswing in the use/misuse of DMSO as the mechanism to transport things through the skin. ---
**Author:** ![Uncertain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Uncertain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncertain)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/27 "2011-04-16T00:19:01Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > :mad: > And this is is why it infuriates me when Mac Bolan fill GQ threads with ignorant shit. On the one hand, I sympathize with your frustration. On the other hand, I take much greater exception to your egregious violation of [the most important rule of the SDMB](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697084#post7697084). ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/28 "2011-04-16T01:33:56Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > If you allow the use of solvents like DMSO ( a cheat) then you can absorb all sorts of things, including some amino acids. > [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Now, the skin is not a perfect barrier. There are some things we can absorb through it, which is not generaly considered a good thing. Some atoms can get through, and some other things can trick the chemical gates of the skin into opening. DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide) is an example: it absorbs into the skin readily, even though there’s nothing in nature which particularly intended this effect. While it’s actually quite useful (as a mild, nontoxis anasthetic), it can also allow _other_ things into the skin, which can be very bad. > [@Duckster](#): > > Several years back there was a big upswing in the use/misuse of DMSO as the mechanism to transport things through the skin. I’m glad you guys mentioned DMSO, because I was going to ask: how does it allow you to absorb other stuff through your skin? If the substance isn’t normally able to penetrate your skin, like the amino acids that **Blake** mentions, why doesn’t the DMSO just penetrate your skin and leave the not-naturally-skin-penetrating molecules behind? Is it a matter of the chemical-skin-gate-opening thing that **smiling bandit** mentions, or is it something else? ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/29 "2011-04-17T00:23:16Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > :mad: > And this is is why it infuriates me when Mac Bolan fill GQ threads with ignorant shit. > > Had you read my first post, and had he not filled the thread with erroneous crap, you would see that you can use your copper bracelet, but it’s not recommended. > > Copper is one of the many nutrients that it has been incontrovertibly proven that we can absorb through our skin. Elemental copper is not the best way to do that, various copper salts work far better for absorbing through the skin, and oral copper works even better. > > But you will absorb some copper through your skin from wearing a bracelet. You might need to wear the bracelet for about a decade to cure a copper deficiency, but it will eventually work. the last thing i want to do is accuse someone of poor reading comprehension. “to the thread starter, the answer is a person cannot absorb nutrients (minerals) through the skin (though some harmful ones definitely get in through your skin).” i thought that was clear. yes, the skin can absorb certain things. the question was beneficial minerals and i said ‘no.’ copper oxide and sufates via one’s bracelet, maybe. go ahead, show me your googling results. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/30 "2011-04-18T00:01:48Z")
If you think someone is wrong in technical knowledge, what’s the point of flaming? SDMB GQ is not exactly peered, and your reputation is not at stake anyway. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![henchman99942](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/919ad9/32.png) [@henchman99942](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/henchman99942)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/31 "2012-12-25T15:25:08Z")
Hello. Science is the search for truth. Please don’t insult people who are seeking the truth even if they ask what you think are stupid questions in this search. We humans CAN absorb toxins though our skin. Lots of chemicals have warnings… avoid skin contact. It is not a leap of crazy to ASK if humans can absorb nutrients through the skin. I personally started thinking about this one time when watching Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back when Luke was in the healing tank. When we consider that healing baths have been used since ancient times. Are we missing out, in America and the other western nations, on a simple health remedy known to other cultures past and present? I am only asking questions. I claim no empirical knowledge. But it seems impossible to me that NOBODY has done scientific research into dermal nutrient absorption. I am doing internet research at this stage. I was thinking that beets would be good candidate for a vegetable bath. But any internet search for beat bath comes back with non-health related web pages. I am not trying to come up with a new snake oil. I am not making wild conspiracy theory claims. I am simply trying to find out the truth. That is the goal of science. A goof scientist should be able to investigate ANY theory and as long as their methodology is sound, they are doing good science. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/32 "2012-12-25T16:25:46Z")
a good scientist looks to investigations they think are important or useful. also good science takes money which has to come from somewhere. it would seem that this type of science could be done at the amateur level. get beet waste from a beet processing facility. there is lots of beet material that is trimmed off and full of food value, you could get it for the price of animal feed. get a bath tub. stop eating and soak. report your results. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/33 "2012-12-25T17:32:37Z")
> [@henchman99942](#): > > Hello. > > Science is the search for truth. Please don’t insult people who are seeking the truth even if they ask what you think are stupid questions in this search. Social scientists have shown that if you want to correct bad behavior, the correction works best when it immediately follows the bad behavior. So, chiding people for their behavior in a thread 20 months after the fact may not be that helpful. [Oh, yeah… ZOMBIE!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7697100&postcount=4) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456/34 "2012-12-25T18:57:52Z")
Brainoderm patch. For the Zombie trying to cut down. Main problem is that the skin keeps sloughing off though taking the patch with it … and yeah, the arm with it. Of course Zombies are not a great group to test the plant mineral and vitamin transderm system since they are somewhat vegetative already … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-one-absorb-needed-nutrients-into-ones-system-through-ones-skin/578456.md?page=1)