Blood or urine analysis is not very reliable for measuring toxic levels of most of these heavy metals, especially with long-term exposure and tissue buildup. Hair analysis, though controversial, offers the best available evaluation for accumulation of heavy metals, and in many studies, hair levels do correlate fairly well with tissue stores. The heavier the element, the more reliable is the hair analysis. Measuring these toxic minerals is probably the most useful aspect of hair analysis. In the future, we may find even better ways to measure, treat, and prevent this dangerous heavy mineral contamination.
Most of the available information concerns the main heavy metals, aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. For each of these, I provide a general introduction to the history of the metal and how it is handled by the body.
Then, insofar as information is available, I discuss:
• Sources of contamination
• Methods of toxicity
• Symptoms of toxicity
• Amounts leading to toxicity
• Who is susceptible
• Treatment of toxicity
• Ways to prevent toxicity (exposure)
There are no known nutritional deficiencies or bodily uses of these metals, with the possible exception of arsenic, which may be both essential and toxic, so is it necessary to discuss requirements. The remaining heavy metals-antimony, beryllium, bismuth, bromine, thallium, and a few even more minor ones-less commonly produce toxicity problems, and they are described only generally.
Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
Albania Tirane
Garden Grove California USA
Bosnia Sarajevo
Jamaica, Kingston,
McKinney Texas USA
Paraguay, Asuncion,
Victor Harbor South Australia
Holland Amsterdam
Logan City Queensland Australia
There are two important steps to take in the treatment of heavy metal toxicity in your body — identifying the toxin and then removing it from your system.
One way to identify the metal(s) in your body is through chelation treatments, which involve using chelating drugs along with 24-hour urine collection that is later tested for metals. These tests are expensive and invasive. A better test that is simple and can give a lot of information about the levels of essential minerals as well as toxic metals in circulation in your blood is using Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis.
There are many ways of removing toxic metals from the body, but most of them involve expensive treatments where a doctor has to inject drugs or vitamins intravenously into your body via a drip. A lot of these drugs will also strip the good minerals from your body, something that is not recommended.
A simpler way is to take a few drops of a natural tincture a few times per day — it simply goes into water or some juice. This is the beauty of using HMD.
If you suspect heavy metals have already accumulated in your body from silver dental fillings, contaminated seafood and other foods, cosmetics, pollution, contaminated water and other sources it would be wise to disarm this potential “time-bomb” now before it potentially causes serious illness or death.
At Sixwise we highly recommend that you use HMD™ (Heavy Metal Detox), a natural oral formula that helps to effectively eliminate heavy metals from your body, without any side effects.
HMD™ is actually the ONLY chelator that has undergone a $1 million, three-year double-blind placebo-controlled research trials with several hundred people! During these three years over 25 different natural products and combinations were tried but the synergistic components of HMD™ were the only ones that worked for all metals tested. It presently has a worldwide patent-pending.
Dr. George John Georgiou — HMD™ Inventor and worldwide Patent holder — has 9 degrees and diplomas, including two doctorates and has been researching natural heavy metal chelators for a number of years, after he discovered that he became ill himself with mercury poisoning after replacing 12 amalgam fillings with composites.
After a number of years of searching, Dr. Georgiou discovered a unique synergistic formula comprising three natural components: Chlorella Growth Factor, Cilantro or the herb Coriandrum sativum and a homaccord of Chlorella. None of these natural products worked when tested individually, but when combined there was a “magic” synergy that eliminated a large number of toxic metals, including the ones mentioned here.
It is not only a very powerful chelator of toxic metals, but a very gentle one too. It has been tried and tested in many people worldwide, including children with autism, with no side effects when used at the correct dosage. It has therefore been dubbed “The Gentle Chelator.”
Russia, Moscow,
Penrith Australia
Denmark, Copenhagen,
Botswana, Gaborone,
Rockingham, Victoria,
UK London
Lesotho Maseru
Kalgoorlie, Victoria,
Bunbury Victoria Australia
Anaheim California USA
Currently, millions of people living in and around Bangladesh are at risk for organ dysfunction and cancer from chronic arsenic poisoning from the water supply. In an effort to bypass ground water sources rife with bacterial contamination, tube wells were sunk throughout that area, deep into the water table. Bedrock rich in arsenic gives these deeper water stores—and the crops they irrigate—a high concentration of arsenic, and toxicity is epidemic throughout the area. Childhood lead poisoning linked to the ingestion of old paint chips in the North American setting is another good example of environmental contamination.
Metals have been used as instruments of murder. Arsenic is perhaps more rightly classified as a metalloid, but it is consistently the single substance most commonly thought of as a poison. Metals have also been used in warfare as chemical weapons. Again, arsenic was the primary component of the spray known as Lewisite that was used by the British during trench warfare in World War I. Exposure produced severe edema of the eyelids, gastrointestinal irritation, and both central and peripheral neuropathies. The first antidote to heavy metal poisoning, and the basis for chelation therapy today, was British Anti-Lewisite (BAL, or dimercaprol), a large molecule with sulfhydryl groups that bind arsenic, as well as other metals, to form stable covalent bonds that can then be excreted by the body. BAL was developed by the Germans during World War II in anticipation of a reinitiation of gas warfare as had been waged earlier in the century.
In total, however, occupational exposure has probably accounted for the vast majority of heavy metal poisonings throughout human history. Hippocrates described abdominal colic in a man who extracted metals, and the pernicious effects of arsenic and mercury among smelters were known even to Theophrastus of Erebus (370-287 BC). The classic acute occupational heavy metal toxicity is metal fume fever (MFF), a self-limiting inhalation syndrome seen in workers exposed to metal oxide fumes. MFF, or “brass founder’s ague,” “zinc shakes,” or “Monday morning fever” as it is variously known, is characterized by fever, headache, fatigue, dyspnea, cough, and a metallic taste occurring within 3-10 hours after exposure. The usual culprit is zinc oxide, but MFF may occur with magnesium, cobalt, and copper oxide fumes as well.
Chronic occupational exposure to metal dusts has also been linked to the development of pneumoconioses, neuropathies, hepatorenal degeneration and a variety of cancers. These syndromes develop slowly over time and may be difficult to recognize clinically. In the United States, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations guide the surveillance of workers at risk and suggest exposure limits for metals of industrial importance.
Pomona California USA
Cairns, Queensland,
Indonesia, Jakarta City,
Brazil Brasilia
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur,
Cotonou (de facto capital),
Belgium, Brussels,
Hialeah Florida USA
Croatia Zagreb
Antigua and Barbuda, St. John’s
Arsenic
According to the ATSDR, arsenic is considered the most common cause of heavy metal poisoning. Humans are exposed through environmental pollution (arsenic is released from the smelting process of copper, zinc and lead and through the manufacturing of chemicals and glass), ingestion (found in insect poisons), skin contact (some linseed oils) and our worldwide water supply, which has contaminated shellfish, cod and haddock that are later eaten.
An arsenic-based additive is also used in chicken feed to promote growth, kill parasites and improve pigmentation of chicken meat. So if you eat commercial, non-organic chicken you can also be exposed to arsenic through the meat.
Some other sources include paints, rat poison, fungicides, and wood preservatives. Arsenic targets specific organs such as the blood, kidneys, central nervous system and skin systems.
Symptoms of arsenic metal toxicity include:
• Nausea or vomiting
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Garlic odor on breath
• Excessive salivation
• Headache
• Vertigo
• Fatigue
• Paralysis
• Kidney failure
• Progressive blindness
• Mental impairment such as apathy, dementia and anorexia
Arsenic metal toxicity precautions you can take:
• Maintain a high-fiber diet — Fiber binds with arsenic to eliminate it from your body
• Eat foods high in sulfur such as eggs, onions, beans, legumes, and garlic — Sulfur helps get rid of arsenic in your body
Lead
Lead is listed as number two on the ATSDR’s “”Top 20 List” and is behind most of the cases of pediatric heavy metal poisoning. Lead is a very soft metal that was used in pipes, drains, and soldering materials in the construction of millions of homes built before 1940. Chronic exposure results from weathering, flaking, chalking, and dust.
Approximately 2.5 million tons of lead is also produced throughout the world each year for batteries, cable coverings, plumbing, ammunition and fuel additives, paint pigments and use in PVC plastics, x-ray shielding, crystal glass production, and pesticides.
Nearly half a million U.S. children between the ages of 1 and 5 have blood lead levels greater than the CDC recommended level of 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, according to the CDC.
The heavy metal toxicity of lead targets the bones, brain, blood, kidneys and thyroid gland and can affect the nervous system, gastrointestinal system, cardiovascular system, blood production, and reproductive system.
Lead poisoning precautions you can take:
• A surefire way to know whether or not you’re being exposed to lead is to have your home tested. This is crucial if your home was built before 1978, when lead-based paints were used in homes. If you get back positive results on your home, you can contact a reputable company to remove it.
• Be very careful if you partake in hobbies you are likely to come in contact with lead such as stained glass window work.
• Use glassware for drinking or eating instead of ceramic-ware if you are unsure if they contain lead-based paints and glazes
Symptoms of lead poisoning include:
• Gastrointestinal complaints
• Hypertension
• Fatigue
• Abdominal pain
• Nausea
• Constipation
• Weight loss
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Cognitive dysfunction
• Headache
• Weakness
• Convulsions
• Impotence or loss of libido
• Depression of thyroid and adrenal function, chronic renal failure, gout
• Mental symptoms include restlessness, insomnia, irritability, confusion, excitement, anxiety, delusions, and disturbing dreams
Mercury
Mercury ranks number three on ATSDR’s “”Top 20 List”. Mercury is naturally transmitted into the environment from volcanic emissions that come from the degassing of the earth’s crust. There are three forms of mercury: elemental, organic and inorganic.
Mercury has found its way into the aquatic food chains and fish through being dispersed into the atmosphere by winds, returning to the earth in rainfall and finding its way into the water. Mercury compounds continue to be used in medicines such as mercurochrome and merthiolate, algaecides and certain vaccines. Another route to exposure is through inhalation, targeting the brain and kidneys.
Another route of mercury exposure is via dental amalgams, which include mercury. In one Norwegian study, 47 percent of patients with dental amalgam fillings reported suffering from major depression — a symptoms of metal toxicity — compared with only 14 percent in the control group.
And another study, published in Neuroendocrinology Letters, found that removal of mercury fillings resulted in improvements in 70 percent of those who suffered from mercury-related health problems like depression.
Armenia Yerevan
Mackay Queensland Australia
Broken Hill Australia
Laos, Vientiane
Austin Texas USA
Palestinian State,
Uzbekistan Tashkent
El Paso Texas USA
Spain, Madrid,
Venezuela, Caracas
Now there are a number of other therapies you may have heard about including Chelation, Colon Cleanse, and nutrition.
Unfortunately these come with limitations and some serious side effects. With Chelation the challenge is that these treatments are indiscriminate and attract vital minerals as well as heavy metals, requiring medical supervision and vitamin injections to avoid serious side effects. The other challenge is that the toxins are attached to the outside of the chelating agent, meaning they can do damage to the kidney or liver during elimination. This is something you really don’t want to do unless it is absolutely necessary.
A good colon cleanse will get toxins out of the body. However if toxins are not removed from the body, they are reabsorbed through the gut wall causing secondary toxification. The challenge with Colon cleanse is that it only takes waste from the gut.
Another popular method of detoxification is to flood the body with high-level nutrients, such as antioxidants. We flood the body with high potency nutrition and it activates the immune system to discard unwanted toxins. However there is little hope for antioxidants and mineral supplements to do their job properly, if the body is burdened with heavy metals in the first place.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to source the high quality activated liquid zeolite that has been properly cleaned out and is pure and safe for use. If you are aware of a toxic build up in your body and are looking to remove heavy metals from your body do your research. However we have heard of nothing as effective as the activated liquid Zeolite in removing heavy metals from your body safely and effectively.
Dubbo, Australia,
Tucson Arizona USA
Portland Oregon USA
Djibouti Djibouti
Armidale Australia
Newport News Virginia USA
United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi,
Azerbaijan, Baku,
Mozambique, Maputo,
City of Bankstown Australia
Symptoms of toxic build-up can include Fatigue, digestive distress, aching joints, depression, impaired blood sugar regulation, miscarriage, infertility, premature births, pre-eclampsia, hypertension, cancer etc. In fact Health authorities estimate that at least 90% of all chronic diseases can be attributed to environmental pollution in one way or another.
Are you aware of the amount of heavy metals you are exposed to on a daily basis? We are exposed through the air we breathe, the food we eat, the utensils and products we use. From innocent looking cookware to children’s toys. Vaccinations, dental work, insecticides, cleaning products, jewelery, industrial plants, burning jet fuel, the list goes on. Want more proof, a 2004 study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that blood samples from newborns contained an average of 287 toxins, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and Teflon chemicals.
So how do we avoid heavy metal exposure and clear them out of our bodies?
First you need to identify sources of metal exposure and limit your exposure. For example, avoid person care products and cosmetics with aluminium, use glass, titanium and lead-free pots and enamels- aluminium and Teflon are well known health dangers, filter your water, don’t smoke or expose yourself to second hand smoke, remove mercury fillings etc.
Second you need to remove the toxic burden in your body and take the heavy metals out of your body that don’t belong there. A cleaner healthier body heals and repairs itself. The best source I have found to do this is purified activated liquid zeolite.
The zeolite must be purified and activated which means the zeolite mineral cage has been cleaned out and is activated to have a strong negative charge to attract the positive charged heavy metals in your body. They are then trapped in the cage and safely and effectively excreted them from your body in your urine. The small molecular size of the zeolite only attracts particles such as heavy metals and toxins so vital minerals and vitamins are not removed which has been a problem with other chelating methods.
30 years has gone into this research and development of this dietary supplement to provide a 100% safe and non-toxic solution. This technology has only been developed in the last 3 years and is spreading like wild fire because it is scientifically based and proven to work. This is truly a huge advancement and breakthrough in removing the heavy metal burden on our body.
Orlando Florida USA,
City of Lismore Australia
Ireland Dublin
Geraldton, Victoria,
Mount Gambier South Australia
Colombia, Bogota,
Niger, Niamey,
Fremantle, Victoria,
Geelong, Victoria,
Andorra Andorra la Vella
Heavy metal toxicity can cause or contribute to a long list of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, other brain and neurological disorders, along with cancers.
We all want to be healthy and even though many are following healthy dietary guidelines, they can still have serious health problems. Why is this so? One reason may be toxic heavy metals such as mercury, aluminium, cadmium, arsenic, lead, tin and other metal poisons that unfortunately are present in our environment and invade our body’s everyday.
The fact is that heavy metal toxicity can cause or contribute to a long list of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, other brain and neurological disorders, along with cancers.
Although the medical community recognises acute heavy metal toxicity there are far more people suffering from chronic exposure which we face everyday. This has become one of the most pressing health hazards of today.
Western Sahara El Aaiun
Dubbo Australia
Los Angeles California USA
Bolivia, Sucre,
Qatar Doha
Austria, Vienna,
Gold Coast, Queensland,
Trinidad and Tobago Port-of-Spain
Bayswater Victoria Australia
Luxembourg, Luxembourg City
For most of these potentially toxic minerals, there are many common uses and possible contamination sources throughout our society; our concern must be with more widespread and long-term observation of and protection from these dangers. Lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and, more recently, aluminum are the main toxic minerals. Beryllium, bismuth, and bromine must be considered as well. And there are other heavy and radioactive metals that could bring future difficulties.
Most of these minerals were present in our environment only in minute amounts until recent centuries, when the orientation toward industrialization and production brought about our many technological advances. But technology, like medicine, has its side effects. Mining these metals from the earth and using them in society-as leaded gasoline or silver-mercury tooth amalgam, for example-have brought all of us into regular exposure with them-unless, of course, we live in a completely unindustrialized environment, harder and harder to find as we approach the twenty-first century. At present, these toxic metals have polluted our atmosphere, our waters, our soil, and food chain.
We cannot realistically put all the lead and cadmium for example, back into the earth and cover it up. We need to deal with their presence. At best, we can find better ways to evaluate them in our water, our air, our food, and our body; learn more about where we obtain them; and work preventively to avoid excessive exposure. Most of these heavier metals are quite stable and decompose fairly slowly, if at all, so they remain in the environment. Luckily, the human body is able to clear much of the modest amount we pick up by eliminating it through our urine, sweat, and feces. Absorption of these metals is usually pretty low as well.
But when our natural means of elimination are reduced or our exposure is increased, we may run into trouble.
The basic way that these heavy metals cause problems is by displacing or replacing related minerals that are required for essential body functions. For example, cadmium can replace zinc, and lead displaces calcium; when this happens, the cadmium or lead is stored in the bones or other tissues and becomes harder to clear, while the important functions of the minerals that are replaced cannot be carried out.
Italy Rome
Armidale, Australia,
Parramatta Australia
Panama Panama City
Libya, Tripoli,
Albania, Tirane,
Redcliffe, Queensland,
Belarus, Minsk,
Poland Warsaw
Kansas City Missouri USA
The toxicity of heavy metals depends on a number of factors. Specific symptomatology varies according to the metal in question, the total dose absorbed, and whether the exposure was acute or chronic. The age of the person can also influence toxicity. For example, young children are more susceptible to the effects of lead exposure because they absorb several times the percent ingested compared with adults and because their brains are more plastic and even brief exposures may influence developmental processes. The route of exposure is also important. Elemental mercury is relatively inert in the gastrointestinal tract and also poorly absorbed through intact skin, yet inhaled or injected elemental mercury may have disastrous effects.
Some elements may have very different toxic profiles depending on their chemical form. For example, barium sulfate is basically nontoxic, whereas barium salts are rapidly absorbed and cause profound, potentially fatal hypokalemia. The toxicity of radioactive metals like polonium, which was discovered by Marie Curie but only recently brought to public attention after the 2006 murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, relates more to their ability to emit particles than to their ability to bind cell proteins.
Exposure to metals may occur through the diet, from medications, from the environment, or in the course of work or play. Where heavy metal toxicity is suspected, time taken to perform a thorough dietary, occupational, and recreational history is time well spent, since identification and removal of the source of exposure is frequently the only therapy required.
A full dietary and lifestyle history may reveal hidden sources of metal exposure. Metals may be contaminants in dietary supplements, or they may leech into food and drink stores in metal containers like lead decanters. Persons intentionally taking colloidal metals for their purported health benefits may ultimately develop toxicity. Metal toxicity may complicate some forms of drug abuse. Beer drinker’s cardiomyopathy was diagnosed in alcoholics in Quebec, and later Minnesota, during a brief period in the 1970s when cobalt was added to beer on tap to stabilize the head. More recently, a parkinsonian syndrome among Latvian injection drug users of methcathinone has been linked to manganese toxicity.
Classic examples of environmental contamination include the Minimata Bay disaster and the current epidemic of arsenic poisoning in South East Asia. In the 1950s, industrial effluent was consistently dumped into Japan’s Minimata Bay, and mercury bioaccumulated to exceedingly high concentrations in local fish. Although some adults did develop signs and symptoms of toxicity, the greatest impact was on the next generation, into which many were born with severe neurologic deficits.
Uganda Kampala
Ethiopia Addis Ababa
Panama, Panama City,
The Hague Netherlands
Albania Tirana
Taiwan Taipei
Turkey, Ankara,
Spain Madrid
Tamworth Australia
Tempe Arizona USA
This is not a discussion of loud, electronic rock ‘n’ roll music, but one of impact to all people living in this day and age who are being exposed to heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. Though not normally found in or used by the human species, they are becoming more widely present in our environment, leading to serious concerns. There are possibly more problems from these metals, which interfere with normal bodily function, than have been considered in most medical circles. Reviewing all of our vitamins and minerals has shown us that most every substance that is useful can be a toxin or poison, as well. The metals discussed in this section are known primarily-almost exclusively-for their potential toxicity in the body, though commerically they may have great advantages.
Previously, the medical community’s concern over metal toxicity was in regard to acute industrial exposure, where certain dramatic measures were performed to stimulate elimination of those metals. More recently, there has been concern over lead intoxication in children from sucking or eating lead-based paint, for example, and legislation has been enacted to reduce this possible contamination, though these measures will probably have a greater effect on future generations.
North Las Vegas Nevada USA
Greensboro North Carolina USA,
Parramatta, Australia,
Georgia Tbilisi
Jordan Amman
India, New Delhi,
Singapore Singapore
Jordan, Amman,
Poland Warsaw
Ipswich Queensland Australia