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HEAVY METALS

Where do heavy metals come from?

Life on Earth in its rawest natural form is fraught with countless dangers and immediate threats to your existence. Numerous toxic metals and compounds are found almost everywhere on this planet in some concentration. However, potentially poisonous forms of mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum, copper, tin, tungsten, chromium, beryllium, and other elements are increasingly found in our post-industrial environment.

As elements, they can be transmuted through nuclear fusion in exploding stars, but they are not destroyed in mundane Earthly environments. Until the industrial revolution accelerated mining and pollution operations across the planet, most toxic heavy metals were buried deep underground, far from the concerns of simple human civilizations. As human industry expanded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, toxic heavy metals were mined, smelted, and added to any number of products that released those metals directly into the environment. Leaded gasoline, for example, released lead directly into the air with every stroke of the combustion engine. Mercury fillings resulted in thousands of tons of mercury being expelled into the atmosphere as the bodies of those who passed away were cremated. Lead arsenate was also widely used as a pesticide on orchards and food crops across North America for much of the nineteenth century.

Once expelled into the open environment, heavy metals may be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed into humans, animals, plants, and fungi, or they may be transformed and combined with other substances to create new compounds . . . but they cannot simply vanish. They persist.

It is the industrial exploitation and expelling of these elements—which were originally sparse and spread out at relatively low levels—that has turned vague primordial threats into everyday dangers. As by-products of smelting, ore extraction, energy production, and commercial goods, heavy metals and refined chemical compounds have poured into our air, water, soils, foods, ecosystems, and bodies.

In September 2013, the CDC issued its updated fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, detailing more than 201 chemical substances that have been identified in blood serum and urine levels throughout the U.S. population.⁸ These can be ingested, absorbed, stored, excreted, metabolized, or bound to other compounds—potentially interacting with, blocking, or amplifying reactions within the body.

While many elements, including trace levels of certain minerals, are essential nutrients for catalytic conversions and biological functions, alarming concentrations of toxic forms of these elements have found their way into our lives at a pace that’s wildly out of balance with nature and hazardous to our health and longevity.

A few dozen key contaminants may be taking a crucial but yet uncalculated toll on the well-being of everyone around the world—with increased levels of toxins in everyday foods contributing to a general rise in inflammation, immunological and digestive disorders, neurological damage, organ failure, heart and lung ailments, cancer, and other serious diseases and conditions.

When most people think of being poisoned, they typically imagine ingesting a large, concentrated dose that quickly induces acute toxicity, often followed by a swift and horrible death. In reality, the real danger to health comes from long-term exposure to low-level doses of toxins over time, including heavy metals.

Science now recognizes that these detrimental health effects are triggered by gradually accumulating, minuscule concentrations of toxins through repeated dietary or environmental exposure.

The tidal wash of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, fertilizers, preservatives, emulsifiers, and additives across the agricultural practices of the entire Western world—and increasingly the developing world—has contributed to the introduction of known toxins into the environment at apocalyptic levels. They interact with and are absorbed by soils, bodies of water, vegetation, fish, and wildlife. They are absorbed and integrated into plant and animal tissues. As humans, we breathe in these compounds, eat them, drink them, and accumulate them in our bodies. We also excrete them, or their metabolized by-products, back into the environment, furthering the cycle of death and destruction brought on by these toxins. While further research is needed to expand our understanding of exactly how these toxins interact to produce disease and death, there is little debate about the importance of limiting environmental and dietary exposure to these toxins in the first place.

Dietary exposure to toxic heavy metals through foods is a far greater problem than most people suppose. Even USDA-certified organic foods are not tested for heavy metals like cadmium, lead, arsenic, or mercury. Thus, there are no limits on heavy metal levels in these foods, including those sold in upscale healthy food retailers such as Whole Foods. The organic label simply describes the process through which the food was grown and that a farmer hasn’t used additional pesticides, herbicides, or other petrochemicals during that process. “Certified organic” in no way requires any heavy metals testing of soils, irrigation water, or even the final food product.

The reality is that one farmer’s “organic” food can differ widely from another farmer’s food simply because the air, water, and soil in which the food is grown is overwhelmingly contaminated with heavy metals.

Toxic heavy metals and other elemental poisons—whether they circulate around us or are absorbed into our bodies—definitively remain in the biosphere in one form or another in perpetuity. They are part of a vicious and deadly cycle that modern life has exponentially accelerated through the industrial mining, concentration, and dispersing of toxic elements that would have been far better left alone, buried in the Earth’s crust.

Some of the worst offenders, including metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, have long since thoroughly infiltrated our lifestyles, and each poses its own significant hazards. Because the functions of the body are complex, many of the harmful effects are still being discovered and documented to this day. The scientific work on understanding the effects of toxic elements on biological systems, in fact, has only just begun.

Already, there is ample evidence of heavy metals disrupting chemical reactions throughout the body and blocking important nutrient absorptions. Toxic metals often compete with nutritional elements in metabolic processes; poisonous metals can imitate essential, or “good,” trace metals, rendering elements the body needs unavailable as chemical catalysts. Even when heavy metals don’t interfere with key metabolic functions, they still cling to cell walls, interfering with other cellular functions such as waste excretion, immune defense, healing, and adaptation.

Scientists have spent a considerable amount of time and effort researching the processes by which heavy metals undermine and destroy the body over time. Oxidation is one such process, whereby cells are disrupted and damaged, often leading to disease or weakened organ vitality. This is one reason why antioxidants are essential for good health: They protect cells from dangerous and deadly exposure to free radicals.

Emerging science reveals that toxic elements, including heavy metals, have a greater propensity than previously thought for damaging DNA and disrupting cellular processes. Not only are these metals shown to cause cancer, but there is increasing evidence now confirming their potential roles as co-carcinogens that increase mutations and disruptions when combined in the body with other types of toxins.⁹

Heavy metals poisoning is trans-generational

An even more important—and destructive—role may be played by toxic heavy metals in interfering with the process of DNA methylation, which transforms cytosine and adenosine nucleotide bases in the DNA sequence. This interference can cause inheritable changes in what is known as the epigenome, a genetic roadmap parallel to DNA that records changes to gene expression that are passed on to the next generation.

The process of DNA methylation plays a role in gene regulation and is a vital process during early fetal development when methylation during cell division directs specific tissue formation and other processes. Approximately 70 percent of human DNA is naturally methylated when the attachment methyl groups switch a gene on or off, but when toxic metals attach to these methyl bonds, they can interfere with vital cellular functions or even block them altogether.¹⁰

Through the still-emerging understanding of epigenetics, science has uncovered the specific process by which environmental factors, diet, stress, and exposure to toxins rewrite the intended gene expression and alter DNA. This, in turn, influences an individual’s chances of contracting disease—and of passing along those risks to their children. Despite the fact that epigenetic influences are not hard-coded into DNA, epigenetic effects influence traits that appear to be inherited by offspring.

A full understanding of this phenomenon should cause immediate alarm in the mind of anyone reading this. Epigenetic inheritance of toxic side effects from dietary exposure to heavy metals means that toxicity is trans-generational. This means that the toxic environment in which we live today will negatively impact future generations for an unknown number of generations even if we eliminate all exposure starting tomorrow.

For example, studies have shown an inverse relationship between a mother’s cumulative cord blood lead levels and the epigenome of her developing fetus, strongly suggesting that toxins interfere with “long-term epigenetic programming and disease susceptibility.”¹¹,¹² Arsenic exposure was likewise found to affect DNA methylation in fetal development, damaging DNA and disrupting gene regulation.¹³

In many ways, we are already too late to save future generations from the harmful effects of exposure to toxic elements. And because exposure is only getting worse, not better, trans-generational negative effects are likely to significantly worsen with each subsequent generation. This cycle may place the very sustainability of the human race in a precarious situation, with its effects only becoming more widely apparent in the coming years. Broadly speaking, we may already have doomed ourselves to global increases in infertility, devastating cancer rates, and a planet-wide decline in cognitive function due to heavy metals exposure in modern-day foods.

In other words, we may have already set out on a path by which the great-grandchildren of today’s young adults will be increasingly mentally challenged, infertile, and possibly incapable of surviving without significant medical assistance. The destruction of sustainable human life on our planet, in other words, may have already been set into motion, only to play out through several generations of suffering and bewilderment as government regulators and food companies continue to push their conspiracy of silence about the actual underlying causes.

Heavy metals interfere with your biology

There are many ways in which heavy metals interfere with and distort healthy biological functions. As just one example, heavy metals may interfere with normal cellular methylation cycles. When lead builds up in bones, it can negatively distort DNA methylation processes in white blood cells, which of course originate in bone marrow.¹⁴ White blood cells are essential to a healthy immune system as they help the body fight infection by attacking foreign invaders such as viruses, bacteria, and germs.

Many metal toxins are classified as electrophiles, meaning these molecules are driven to steal electrons and bind to chemical compounds in the body in processes similar to methylation. Lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium are biochemical vampires, latching onto and interfering with vital molecular groups, disrupting their immunological and metabolic contributions to healthy biology. Even after they are expelled from the body, these heavy metals can go on to cause damage in downstream biological systems such as fish, amphibians, and ocean ecosystems.

Natural chelation and the removal of heavy metals from the body

Health-conscious consumers naturally want to find ways to remove heavy metals from their bodies. The most important method for accomplishing that is to eliminate dietary exposure to toxic heavy metals. Once sources of exposure are eliminated, the body’s natural elimination processes will automatically and over time remove toxic heavy metal buildup in organs and tissues.

But even the process of removing heavy metals from your body can be toxic. One of the most common methods for this is called chelation, or the binding of metal ions. Chelation therapy involves the administration of chelating agents to bind to metals so they can be more easily excreted and removed from the body through detoxification.

When heavy metals are chelated out of the body’s organs and tissues, they are dumped into the blood supply, which can have toxic effects on the body.

If this process is too rapid, the levels of heavy metals in the blood supply can increase so rapidly that they become acute and toxic on their own. This danger is why any heavy metals detoxification program must be pursued under the guidance of a clinically qualified chelation expert, naturopathic physician, or other holistic practitioner with years of experience in removing heavy metals from the body.

If you are looking for a chelation expert, my recommendation is to contact the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating physicians and other health professionals about the efficacy of using integrative medicine, or medicine that treats the whole body, including the mind and spirit. ACAM’s healthcare model focuses primarily on preventing illness, rather than masking symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs. At Acam.org, you can locate a qualified heavy metals removal clinician in your area.

The topic of heavy metals removal from your body is covered in more detail in the sections on specific heavy metals. As you read through these sections, however, keep in mind that removing the sources of exposure is the single most important principle of detoxification. Failure to remove the sources of exposure—even while undergoing aggressive detoxification therapies—will net you very few overall gains.

Chelation strategies are based on a metal element’s natural affinity for molecules with a certain chemical charge. Chemical binding properties provide a pathway for removing damaging heavy metals from the body. Even the best chelators, however, are limited in their abilities. No chelation strategy offers 100 percent removal of any heavy metal from the body. Specifically, beware of dietary supplements that claim to rapidly pull heavy metals out of your brain or body tissues. Although certain supplements (such as oral ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid [EDTA]) may offer benefits if used over a very long period of time, many dietary supplements are presently sold with dubious detox claims backed by nothing other than wishful thinking. Some of them may even pose real dangers to your health.

In my view, no detox regimen should be pursued without first consulting with a naturopathic physician.

ZEOLITES AND HEAVY METALS

Beware of powdered zeolites sold alongside claims that they remove heavy metals from your body. All powdered zeolites contain very high concentrations of lead—typically 50,000 ppb and sometimes more—and their aluminum levels are many times higher. I recently discovered that powdered zeolites were being dishonestly marketed as a daily dietary supplement, pushed by unscrupulous companies that claimed you should “detox daily” by consuming these finely ground rocks containing very high levels of lead and aluminum. Remarkably, one of the primary claims of zeolite marketers was that it removed lead and aluminum from your body. To “prove” this, one of the companies commissioned a small-scale clinical trial in which the presence of toxic metals was measured in the urine of people consuming zeolites daily. Sure enough, people who consumed zeolites were found to urinate out higher levels of lead and aluminum (two elements found in powdered zeolites). From this, the study author “concluded” that zeolites remove heavy metals from the body.¹

People who eat lead and aluminum, in other words, were found to urinate out lead and aluminum. Should we be surprised?

Talk about junk science!

In a clinical setting, common chelating agents for lead, arsenic, and other metals include meso-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), dimercaptopropanesulfonic acid (DMPS), and 2,3-dimercaprol (BAL).¹⁵ These chelates—termed after chela, or “claw,” a Greek-derived Latin word—are often used in combination with vitamins and other antioxidants structured to bind more effectively with the metal while enhancing metabolic pathways for the metals’ removal. While DMSA and DMPS are the most widely used chelates for lead and arsenic, studies have found them incompatible with mercury removal, where more custom chelates are typically used.¹⁶

There are many foods that naturally have some limited chelation properties. Cilantro,¹⁷ chlorella,¹⁸ and lemons¹⁹ have all been identified as agents with some effectiveness for reducing heavy metal toxicity, while foods like garlic²⁰ can reduce levels of oxidative stress. It has also been found that citrate, cysteine, glutamate, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and yeast extract (particularly effective against copper toxicity) bind and remove certain metals.²¹ (Although it must be noted that yeast extract is a common form of MSG, an excitotoxin with its own health concerns.)

In research conducted in 2010, Taiwan researchers found that lemon and orange peel could aid in the removal of heavy metal ions, particularly copper and nickel, which highlights the importance of consuming fruits and vegetables daily, as their benefits are extraordinary. Activated carbon (charcoal) is also very effective at neutralizing and removing metal toxins.²²

Lack of exercise and sweating causes heavy metals to accumulate over time

The body’s mechanisms for excretion also play an important role in detoxification; in studies, sweating in particular has been shown to remove heavy metals in vastly higher quantities than are expelled through urination. Endurance exercises and use of infrared saunas have been successfully used to sweat out toxins, in many cases surpassing the level of toxins removed through urination.^23,24

The fact that more and more Americans pursue sedentary lifestyles lacking almost all vigorous exercise—and therefore lacking sweating—helps explain why metals so rapidly accumulate in the bodies of the obese. A 2014 study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings and conducted at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health found that obese Americans spend less than one minute per day engaged in vigorous exercise.

Yes, that’s one minute per day. The study found that obese women were far worse off than men, engaging in less than one hour of vigorous exercise per year.²⁵ With that near-zero level of exercise and sweat excretion of heavy metals, it’s only a matter of time before the accumulation of heavy metals reaches a crisis point in the body, contributing to dysfunction and symptoms that are often diagnosed as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Modern humans are, in a very real sense, walking time bombs of toxic metals and chemicals, all accumulated through the routine consumption of contaminated foods, personal care products, and environmental exposure. It is irrational to expect that a nation can protect the health of its people—or even control its health care costs—unless this trend is sharply reversed by cleaning up the food supply and reducing heavy metals in personal care products and dietary supplements.

The FDA, in other words, should be doing exactly what I’m doing here. A nationwide effort needs to be undertaken to test all the popular foods and other items that might contain toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. Reasonable concentration limits need to be standardized at the national level, and the diligent efforts of people like myself and others who are attempting to lift the veil on food industry contamination should be celebrated, not vilified.

There aren’t many of us who genuinely care about the quality of food our fellow Americans are routinely swallowing. We, the few who dare to spend our time, money, and effort examining the food contamination that’s contributing to the disease epidemics now devastating our world, are the pioneers of the clean food movement. Through tools of modern science, we effectively give consumers a kind of X-ray vision into what they’re eating, drinking, and putting on their skin. It is precisely this clarity that the food industry fears, because the more closely people are allowed to look at what they’re really eating, the more persistently they may begin to ask the really important questions like, “Hey, why isn’t anybody testing these protein powders for lead?”

HEAVY METALS: INTERNATIONAL LIMITS CHART

^a Environmental Protection Agency

^b Food and Drug Administration

^c U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention

^d World Health Organization

^e Food and Agriculture Organization

^f European Union

^g California Proposition 65

^h European Food Safety Authority

ⁱ The Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain