Heavy Metal Toxicity

Heavy Metal toxicity is a MAJOR problem nowadays, and you rarely hear it talked about in the health world. Heavy metals, such as mercury, lead, and aluminium, accumulate in the body over time and are suspected of triggering dangerous conditions like heart disease, thyroid problems, dementia, neurological conditions, autism, infertility and birth defects.

I wanted to share my results with you all which tested for my mineral status and heavy metal toxicity from the hair mineral analysis test.

Hair mineral analysis is more stable than any blood test as blood tests are subject to daily and even sometimes, hourly variations. Also, our bodies have an in-built mechanism to maintain blood mineral levels within a narrow ‘near normal to normal’ range at the expense of other tissues. It provides information on long term levels of nutrients and exposure to heavy metals. Since hair grows at approximately 1cm per month, the hair assessed during this diagnostic procedure provides data on the toxic exposure and mineral levels in the body from the prior 2-4 months. It tests for 17 different minerals and 18 toxic minerals. The cost for this test is $240.00 which includes results and interpretation. You can order it by hitting reply here.

My results presented that I had high mercury and aluminium toxicity. Mercury likes to store itself in the fatty tissues, such as your brain, and I believe can eventually lead to all sorts of neurological problems. Chronic mercury ingestion may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Early symptoms of mercury overexposure include:

• Insomnia
• Dizziness
• Fatigue
• Drowsiness
• Weakness
• Depression
• Tremors
• Loss of appetite/ loss of memory
• Nervousness
• Headache
• Dermatitis
• Numbness and tingling of lips and feet
• Emotional instability
• Kidney damage

Mercury sources include:

• Shellfish
• Large fish
• Dental amalgams
• Electrical relays
• Fungicides
• Mining
• Paints
• Explosives
• Batteries
• Mercurial diurectics
• Fungicides
• Fluorescent lamps
• Cosmetics, hair dyes, and petroleum products.
• Vaccines containing thimerosal are another source of exposure.

It is quite common for a lot of people to have high aluminium. Aluminium (Al) is widely used in everyday living. Deposition in brain tissue is implicated as contributing to various neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer’s disease. Al causes a chronic, low-grade inflammation contributing to the pathogenesis of glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. Whilst GIT absorption is minimal, absorption is decreased by dietary phosphates (from animal protein sources), or increased by citric or malic acids (carboxylic acids) present in foods or drink.

Common source of Al include:

• Orally from water appears to be about 0.3%; from food it hasn’t been adequately determined. Industrial/medicinal exposure/antiperspirant use, can markedly increase absorption.
• Inhalation of airborne Al is about 1.5% in the industrial environment but may be much higher in the area of bauxite mines.
• Other sources include cookware, cosmetics, antacids, baking powder, drinking water clarified by “alum”, calcium citrate/fluoride-treated municipal water.

Toxicity Symptoms include:

• Muscular coordination issues
• Colic and gastric irritation
• Seizures
• Speech problems

• Supplementing with sulforaphane daily as this up regulates an enzyme that binds to heavy metals and removes them. I am taking one broc shot daily. You can purchase these from here and will get 15% discount on checkout if you enter my discount code “Annelies15”.
• Infrared sauna’s once a week to assist in detoxification.
• Exercise daily and ensuring I am sweating to increase removal of toxins.
• Eating a whole-foods based diet, reducing processed foods and other foods that contain a high amount of mercury.
• Reducing common source of mercury/ aluminium.
• Drinking lots of water.
• Fasting mimicking diet every second month.