General Precision Point Diagnostics July 12, 2024

Your patients may be more at risk then they think

We live in a toxic World, and it’s only getting more so. Despite our best efforts, it’s impossible to avoid taking in toxins completely. We ingest toxins with our food and water, breathe toxins in through the air, and absorb toxins through our lifestyle choices. Some of the most pervasive and dangerous toxins we absorb are heavy metals- particularly lead, cadmium, and mercury. No amount of these metals is good for the body, and no patient will be able to avoid them completely. Let’s look at how each of these metals can damage a patient’s health, and jobs and activities that are likely to increase toxic exposure.

Mercury: Even small amounts of mercury may cause serious health problems. It may have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive, immune systems, and on the lungs, kidneys, skin, and eyes. Like other heavy metals, mercury is a neurotoxin that accumulates in tissues and is generally not flushed away. Over a lifetime, the total amount in the body continues to build. Mercury can eventually damage the central nervous system and brain as one ages, depending on lifetime exposure. High levels of mercury can impair a child’s physical and mental development, including motor skills, learning capacity, and memory. Pregnant women have to be particularly careful about mercury uptake since mercury can interfere with the development of their unborn babies. Too much mercury can cause birth defects that center on the nervous system and brain development, including loss of IQ. 

Cadmium: Cadmium is toxic even at low levels, and can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and cramping. Chronic exposure to cadmium can lead to kidney disease, lung disease, immune system problems, nervous system problems, fragile bones, low birth weight, and an increased risk of lung cancer. Cadmium exposure in children is linked to learning disabilities and participation in special education. Children with higher cadmium levels are three times more likely to have learning disabilities. Cadmium exposure during pregnancy can disturb zinc transfer to the fetus, interfere with glucocorticoid balance, and affect the regulation of insulin growth factor-related proteins, which can cause fetal growth retardation, low weight or height of the newborn

Lead: Lead is another toxic heavy metal that can only do harm to the human body. No amount of lead is safe, and like other heavy metals, it continues to accumulate in the body over time. Even small amounts of lead can cause serious health problems. Symptoms in adults can include high blood pressure, abdominal pain, constipation, and joint and muscle pain. In children, symptoms include developmental delay, learning difficulties, irritability, loss of appetite, fatigue, weight loss, vomiting, abdominal pain, hearing loss, and constipation. These symptoms may not immediately be understood as coming from lead exposure. Higher doses of lead intake can cause more acute problems, such as kidney and nervous system damage, and very high amounts of lead could cause seizures and death. Younger children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead poisoning, as its effects on the central nervous system and the brain can have a severe impact on their mental development. It can cause lower IQ, decreased ability to pay attention, and underperformance in school. Lead can pass from a mother to her unborn baby. Lead in the blood during pregnancy can increase the risk for miscarriage, and cause the baby to be born too early or too small. It can hurt the baby’s brain, kidneys, and nervous system.

Obviously, there are many more toxins that can affect the body, but heavy metals accumulate in our tissues, are never any help to us, and although they can’t be completely avoided, there are a number of ways to decrease exposure- mostly by avoiding the sources of these heavy metals as much as possible. These metals can also be tested for through a urine test. A comprehensive heavy metal test like that available from Precision Point Diagnostics, will not only identify the three common and dangerous heavy metals that we’ve discussed but also many more toxic metals that could be affecting a patient’s health. Testing is always an excellent place to start for any patient who demonstrates possible symptoms or has certain risk factors. Given that heavy metal symptoms can be subtle at first, and that the metals accumulate in the body over decades, a patient could end up quite sick from heavy metals after years of toxic accumulation. Testing is a way to surveil the body to determine which metals are present in detectable amounts and which may have accumulated to the point where there may be danger involved. Discovering which metals, at which levels, are in a patient’s body allows them to alter their behavior by avoiding those actions that may lead them to continue to absorb those metals at a dangerous rate. 

What are some risk factors for heavy metal exposure? These metals can be all around us, and there are a surprising number of ways that a patient can take up these metals. Any means of exposure that you can limit could help a patient’s lifetime exposure to these metals. If any (especially several at once) of the following are true for a patient, then you might consider testing them for toxic and heavy metals:

  1. Living close to an industrial area. Living near an industrial area can increase the likelihood of exposure to heavy metals. Industrial districts can emit fair amounts of lead, cadmium, and mercury into the drinking water (especially into artesian wells), and airborne pollutants can contain all three of these heavy metals as well as many others.
  1. Working in certain industries. According to OSHA and other sources, a number of industries can increase your chances of accumulating heavy metals: 

3) Living in a house built before 1978. Before 1978, it was extremely common to use lead-based paint for houses because the paint was so durable. In 1978 the United States banned the use of lead-based paint for houses, but many houses built before then still have at least some areas where the original paint still exists on the house. A 2021 study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that more than half of the more than 1 million children tested under six had detectable levels of lead in their bodies. Young children are particularly susceptible to ingestion of lead paint chips because of their proclivity to put things in their mouths. Even buildings where the lead paint has been scraped off can still have lead-containing paint chips scattered about. The same JAMA study found that the percentage of young children with detectable lead levels increased significantly when the group of children living in pre-1950s buildings was examined. Adults obviously aren’t likely to be putting paint chips in their mouths, but may still have been exposed if they live in an older building- particularly if they’ve done any renovating or been present when the renovation was conducted.

4) Eating a lot of tuna or other large fish- including sushi. Mercury pollution of waterways has long been known, but it can be found in other parts of the ecosystem as well. Mercury contamination is widespread across western North America in air, soil, sediment, plants, fish, and wildlife. The primary reason is because of pollution from power plants and industry.  Once mercury is released into the environment, it can be converted to a biologically toxic form of methylmercury by microorganisms found in soil and in the aquatic environment. Mercury is a concern because it is absorbed easily into the food chain. The harmful methylmercury form of mercury readily crosses biological membranes and can accumulate to harmful concentrations in the exposed organism and become increasingly concentrated up the food chain. It’s theoretically possible that eating a lot of big game could increase a patient’s mercury levels, but it’s more likely they’d ingest mercury when consuming predators. Why? Because just like in humans, the mercury stays in the body of wildlife and anytime that body is consumed by a predator, that mercury is concentrated by adding to the predator’s lifetime load of mercury. We don’t eat many land predators, but we do eat fish- and almost all are predators. The biggest fish have the largest concentrations of mercury from all of the fish that they ate (and that those fish ate, and so on). Big fish consumed frequently include tuna, swordfish, seabass, halibut, pike, etc. These fish concentrate the most mercury, particularly fish like tuna and swordfish which are voracious predators. Some species of tuna may have less mercury, like skipjack, but Albacore tuna and the various species used for sushi usually have more.

5) Eating a lot of chocolate- especially dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has been promoted in recent years for the benefits it can bring to the body. The higher the cacao content, the greater the benefits. Not only do high cacao content dark chocolates have far fewer carbs (sugars), but the higher the cacao content, the higher the levels of the beneficial effects- the fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, and other minerals; and the organic compounds that function as antioxidants, including polyphenols, flavanols, and catechins. All good stuff, but dark chocolate has a heavy metal problem. A study of dark chocolate products done by Consumer Reports, found that many brands of dark chocolate products had relatively high levels of cadmium and lead in them. It made no difference if the brand was high-end or low-end, organic or not. Some organic brands had very high levels of both of these heavy metals, while some standard supermarket brands also did, while others were reasonable. A follow-up study of a wider range of chocolate products that included milk chocolate, chocolate chips, and brownie mixes found that some of these products also have quite high levels of lead, cadmium, or both. In fact, Consumer Reports found that ⅓ of all of the chocolate products they tested were high (in their estimation) in cadmium, lead, or both. Dark chocolate skewed the worst by far. Some products were very high indeed, while others were deemed relatively safe. 

6) Not enough iron in the diet.  Iron needs to be balanced in your diet. Too much iron is very hard on the organs over the long term and can cause all kinds of conditions. Too little iron can cause anemia. In addition, too little iron means that your body can uptake a larger than usual amount of both cadmium and lead when a patient is exposed to them.

7) Smoking tobacco. Cigarette smoke contains cadmium that can be absorbed through the lungs. Tobacco is a highly processed commodity- we all know this. As a result, there are many harmful chemicals that can be added to tobacco. Tobacco itself, just like cacao, absorbs cadmium from the soil. When a patient smokes tobacco, they are delivering cadmium directly to their lungs, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream. Secondhand smoke, as well, contains cadmium, and passive inhalers are likely to absorb some. If a patient smokes (particularly if for a long time), or is frequently around one or more smokers, it may be in line for them to take a heavy metal test. 

8) Using toys, cosmetics, or supplements manufactured outside the United States by countries that don’t regulate lead as we do. The United States has gone to great lengths to eliminate lead-based products for consumer use when any alternatives are available. Today, despite high lead levels among children, the amount of detectable lead has fallen. Those who have risk factors still may have lead exposure, but the banning of lead paint, leaded gasoline, and the use of lead in other consumer products has led to a continually falling level of lead contamination among the general population. It’s still somewhat high, but it used to be much higher and caused real health impacts on the population. Some other countries don’t have nearly the same level of control over lead in consumer products, these can include cosmetics, toys, and some herbal medicines.

Since heavy metals continue to build up in the body, every exposure counts. Several risk factors, having symptoms, or working in an industry that risks exposure are all reasons to test a patient for heavy metals.

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