We mentioned before that most of the patients we see are terribly
deficient in zinc. This is not due just to their not taking enough
of it. Many patients have heavy metal toxicity, and these metals
interact in ways that are very detrimental to overall health. Zinc,
which is needed for vision, hearing, muscle function, and immune
health, is often replaced by lead in the tissues, if there is a
significant amount of lead present.
Heavy metals enter the body through silver amalgam fillings in the
teeth (mercury), paint and other old structures (lead) food raised
conventionally, water supplies (arsenic, manganese, lead) and a host
of other environmental sources including pesticides and herbicides
along with cleaning products. Many people have had a history of
working in industries with toxic components such as printing,
manufacturing, and certain arts and crafts. Frankly, it is hard to
be alive in this time without exposure to heavy metals.
The longer I practice alternative therapies the more aware of issues
that are preventing the body to heal. One of these is heavy metals
in the body. During my evaluation I am particularly interested in
patients who have a history of working or being exposed to heavy
metals. Have you lived or worked on a farm that used sprays or
pesticides? Working in a factory with exposure to paint or other
toxic fumes? Have you lived in a smog or polluted environment? I
used to routinely do hair analysis of a method to evaluate for heavy
metals. It has been my experience that this test is not very
accurate and I no longer perform this test as a screen.
Urine challenge Test
One of the ways we recommend that all patients improve their health
status is to be tested for heavy metals and then, if they are found
to have a significant load, to undergo Chelation therapy. The
recommended type of test is called a “Urine challenge test”. This is
necessary for several reasons. A challenge test is necessary to
determine your body’s toxic load. If you had severe heavy metal
poisoning, in fact you could be on your death bed, if your blood or
urine was tested it would be normal. How can that be? Well heavy
metals do not stay in your blood but are absorbed into bone, fat
tissue and neurological tissue especially the eye. You could be
extremely toxic but your blood test is normal. The key to measuring
the heavy metals is to force the heavy metals into the blood and
urine and then measure the metals. This is done by a challenging
agent which makes the metals more soluble and it then moves into the
blood and urine. Common agents used are EDTA and DMSA. A measured
amount is given either orally or intravenously depending on the
weight, age, health and heavy metal to be studied. Urine is then
collected over 6 to 24 hours. This sample is then sent to the
laboratory for analysis. This gives a much better indication of
stored metals than does a blood test. Hair analysis has been
disproven as accurate in assessing heavy metal loads.
Chelation And Heavy Metal Detoxification
Chelation therapy is the removal of heavy metals through the urine
and feces, by chelating these substances out of the tissues and into
the waste stream. It is done by introducing chelating agents, or
chemical compounds that bind to the metals and help remove them. In
the body, the chelating agent reacts with metal ions such as lead,
mercury, calcium, iron and aluminum and combines (i.e. bonds) with
the ions, forming a more chemically stable compound. The human body
cannot break down this non-soluble compound easily, and it can not
be excreted. It is necessary to remove the metal with a chelating
agent.
Methods of chelation
Chelation can be done either orally, by taking the chelating agents
found in food, oral agents in pill form or through IV injection of
the chelating agents; it can also be done topically through the use
of creams that contain chelating agents. Chelation therapy can also
be done rectally. Chelation, whether oral, topical, rectal or IV,
should be done under the supervision of a trained medical
professional who can determine the amount of chelating agent you
need, the effectiveness of your treatment and the duration of
treatment necessary.
Foods as oral chelating agents
The first step in your attack of heavy metals, and I feel is the
most important is your diet. There are many foods that are good
chelating agents of heavy metals. “Let your food be your medicine,
and your medicine be your food.” States Hippocrates.
One of these potent medicinal foods is cilantro( or Chinese Parsley)
Dr David Williams published in his newsletter Alternative (For the
Health Conscious Individual) (Vol. 7, No. 12) June, 1998 that using
cilantro to detoxify the body is the most interesting item to come
down the pike in years! Cilantro has been found to chelate (remove)
heavy metals like mercury, aluminum, and lead from the body. In
fact, it is believed to cross the blood-brain barrier and actually
remove said metals from the brain. It may be one of the most
effective agents in doing this.
Dr. Yoshiaki Omura, Director of Medical Research of the Heart
Disease Research Foundation, Omura observed that subjects had higher
than normal levels of mercury in their urine after consuming
Vietnamese soup, which has large amounts of cilantro This is a good
sign for if you have higher levels in your urine that means mercury
is being removed from you body. He followed up on this accidental
finding and discovered that giving cilantro to patients with mercury
poisoning for several weeks successfully eliminated the toxin from
the body. Now I am lucky to have a beautiful Vietnamese wife who
frequently makes delicious soup with tons of cilantro. In fact a
large section of our garden is dedicated to cilantro which we pick
daily for soup, eggs and salads. If you don’t have a Vietnamese wife
then I would suggest trying my wife’s recipe listed in the back of
the book. Another way to enjoy cilantro is to put it on salads or
make a cilantro pesto using olive oil and using either Walnuts or
Brazialin nuts both a good source of magnesium and zinc. Consider
having a few pots of cilantro on your windowsill so you will always
have a fresh supply!
I met a wonderful organic chief in Naples Florida, Sal Montezinos
and we both are collaborating on a Cookbook to cure eye disease.
Will have these and other recipes to help you on your journey to
wellness and clear vision.
Removing Heavy Metals
Pectin is another food product that is good medicine. Phyllis Balch,
in her book Prescription for Natural Healing, reports that pectin is
good for diabetics, removes toxins and heavy metals, lowers
cholesterol and reduces the risk of gallstones. Pectin is found in
apples, bananas, the rinds of citrus fruits (lemons, oranges and
grapefruit), carrots, beets, cabbage and okra. If you juice then you
will probably get some of the pectins and then the pulp can be made
into muffins. Otherwise there are several pectin supplements out
there.
Chlorella is a mild chelator. You can find it in green algae.
Chlorella has a 3-layered cell wall that contains cellulose
microfibrils, which aids in heavy metal detox. You can obtain this
all important nutrient in the form of a drink from juice bars or
simply make one yourself.
(Need foods!) Methionine is a natural occurring chelating agent that
supplies sulfur in the body. It helps in heavy metal detox by
increasing the production cysteine and lecithin for the liver and
protecting your kidney.
Fresh garlic is a good souce of N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) which
increases the production of cysteine and glutathaione which are both
powerful antioxidants which lessen the effects of heavy metals. If
you find it hard to eat garlic because of the pungent smell, there
are also garlic supplements that you can buy.
Milk Thistle is also referred to as silymarin. It helps your liver
detoxify and in the process, eliminate heavy metals. Milk thistle
also protects the membranes of red blood cells.
Oral Chelation
I used to think that oral chelation had little value. Studies have
shown that less than 10% or oral agents are absorbed into the body
to help remove heavy metals. This is in comparison to a 100% of IV
therapy and 20% via rectal administration. My opinion changed when I
was having dinner with several of the top chelation doctors in
Arizona, Dr. Bruce Shelton and Dr. Gary Gordon. Dr Gordon had
ordered fish for his entree and and immediately chimed,”Aren’t you
concerned about the mercury in the fish?” He held out his hand with
several chelation pills and stated, “No, not if I take these” Oral
chelating agents now made sense to me! The oral agents will combine
the heavy metals found in most fish and prevent them from entering
the body. They are probably the best way to prevent additional
toxins from entering the body. Remember the rain barrel analogy.
When you have disease your rain barrel is filled with toxins. You
need to do everything you can from putting more toxins into your
body. There are many oral chelating agents on the market but you
should take them under a doctors supervision. Be aware that all
chelating agents will remove both bad and essential minerals. So if
you are taking oral agents it is essential to take supplemental
minerals. The good thing is that the chelating agents have a much
higher affinity or attraction to the larger more toxic minerals than
the smaller essential minerals. But it is still important to monitor
your minerals while undergoing chelation treatment. This is one
reason why I highly suggest patients receiving chelation continue
receiving the Myers Cocktail, which is a fortified IV vitamin
mixture. Consider Brazil Nuts which contain one the highest amount
of zinc, selenium and magnesium in a food. This seems like a perfect
food for helping the body recover minerals during the chelation
process.
Topical chelation
Application of a skin lotion can reverse years of aging changes in
the eyes caused by heavy metal exposure! Dr. Robert Rowen in his
newsletter 2nd Opinion has recently reported on skin lotion called
TD-DMPS that is able to remove heavy metals from the body. Your skin
is rich in nerves, which transport the DMPS backward into the
central nervous system and into your brain and eyes. This treatment
was developed by Dr Detrich Klinghard, a well known alternative
doctor, who treats autistic children with heavy metal poisoning. He
researched a technique of administering chelating agents without the
invasive intravenous route. This method combines a chelating agent
DMPS and glutathione which acts as a carrier to transport the DMPS
through the skin into the neurological tissues. This method
eliminates the intravenous treatment and there is some evidence that
it is far more effective in the removal of heavy metals! This is
certainly a metod to consider if you have difficulty with IV therapy
or live a great distance to a chelation center.
Rectal Chelation
Rectal chelation is another option for the chelation of heavy
metals. About 20% of EDTA is absorbed into the highly absorbable
rectal mucosa tissue when using this technique. It can be a very
effective option when IV therapy is not available or when patients
are looking for a more economical method of chelation delivery. The
draw back is that many patients will develop loose stools using this
method and just like oral or topical method, a consistent
replacement of essential minerals must be undertaken. In addition to
removing heavy toxic metals they can also remove essential minerals.
This is why it is important that you take a good mineral supplement
while undergoing chelation. The advantage of IV chelation, most
chelation doctors, end the IV treatment with a mineral boost to help
you keep a healthy level of chelating agents.
IV Chelation
IV Chelation is superior to oral, topical and rectal in its
effectiveness. When you perform IV chelation, 100% of the chelating
agent will enter your body and supply you with the maximum dose to
target the heavy metals that are locked into your bone, fat and
neurological tissues. I also like IV chelation since most chelating
doctors will give trace minerals at the end of the IV chelating
treatment. This will greatly lessen the chance of developing mineral
deficiencies. You can find a practitioner of Chelation through the
American College for the Advancement of Medicine (www.acam.org) This
organization of MDs and other professionals is committed to the use
of Chelation therapy, and one of their members can assist you with
the proper testing and treatment.
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