How to Detox Heavy Metals

How to Detox Heavy Metals

Unfortunately, we have reached a point where heavy metals (as well as a range of other chemical toxins) have made their way into our everyday lives. These things enter our bodies and disrupt health in many ways. Luckily, armed with a bit of knowledge and a little proactivity, much of the risk of these things can be mitigated. It is imperative that you learn how to detox heavy metals as these are one of the most disruptive toxins we face today.

Things like lead, mercury, and aluminum have found their way into the environment and end up places we normally wouldn’t think of as sources of toxins. Our industrialized culture with all of our technology has led to a large uptick in the manufacture and disposal of heavy metal-containing materials that, let’s face it, ultimately end up in the environment.

What is a Heavy Metal? 

A heavy metal is a metal that has a density of at least 5 g/cm³. It is generally understood that heavy metals have adverse effects on living organisms and the environment when present in large amounts.

When present in the human body, they serve no beneficial role. In fact, they almost always interfere with normal biological processes instead (1). They do this partly by binding to proteins in the body that would otherwise be activated by normally occurring minerals like magnesium and zinc. This causes massive cellular interference, oxidative stress, and chronic inflammation.

Acute Vs. Chronic Exposure 

Something that is important to understand before getting too deep into this article is that we are not referring to acute exposure to metals so much as we are chronic exposure. Of course, there is an issue when someone is suddenly exposed to a large dose of a toxic metal that causes an immediate toxicity and there are ways of mitigating those damages in an emergency scenario.

What we need to understand though is that even low-level exposure to heavy metals over time can also have a detrimental impact on the body. This is why it is important to understand some of the common sources and ways you can help your body eliminate them on a daily basis if you want to maintain a vibrant level of health.

Who is Susceptible?

As you may have guessed, anyone is susceptible to heavy metal exposure. The difference is that some people have a higher ability to eliminate these things, giving them a higher tolerance before they begin to experience any symptoms. Certain occupations also tend to increase exposure to heavy metals.

Occupations With Higher Exposure

• Auto Repair
• Dental Work
• Construction
• Painting
• Industrial Agriculture
• Anyone Regularly Working With Industrial Chemicals

Those More Susceptible To Metal Toxicity

Those with:

• Leaky Gut
• Liver Damage or Poor Liver Function
• Chronic Infection
• Chronic Blood Sugar Imbalance
• Micronutrient Deficiencies
• Increased Mental or Emotional Stress
• Any Condition That Inhibits the Function of the Gut, Liver, Gallbladder, or Kidneys

Symptoms

The symptoms of chronic heavy metal exposure can vary depending on an individual’s health, exposure level, and the types of metals that they are exposed to. Someone with robust detoxification ability will have a higher tolerance to detox heavy metals while someone else could be extremely sensitive to even the smallest exposure.

Some of the Most Common Symptoms Include:

• Chronic Fatigue
• Brain Fog
• Mood Swings
• Insomnia
• Anxiety & Depression
• Chronic Inflammation

Several heavy metals have also been classified as cancer-causing agents.

Common Heavy Metals

There are common symptoms that appear when toxicity is reached for some of the common heavy metals. While there are many heavy metals present in our environment, this article focuses on the metals that are considered to be found in disproportionately higher amounts and tend to cause the majority of symptoms.

Lead

The primary exposure to lead for many years was from lead-containing paint used in homes. It is estimated that 25% of US homes still have significant amounts of lead in their paint, inside air, and even surrounding soil (2). Another important thing to note is that lead becomes stored in the bone and is passed from mother to offspring during fetal development (3). This passing down of lead can last several generations if not properly addressed.

Lead harms the body by competing with calcium and blocking its effects. Lead also interferes with enzymes, proteins, and antioxidant systems.

Common Sources of Exposure: Homes with Lead-containing Paint, Contaminated Foods, Municipal Tap Water, Cosmetics, Tobacco Products

Areas of Storage: Bones, Brain, Heart, Liver, Kidneys

Health Effects: Headaches, ADD/ADHD, Mood Disorders, Poor Memory, Developmental Disorders in Utero (Reduced Birth Weight, Premature Birth, Poor Cognitive Development)

Arsenic

Arsenic, commonly found in our food supply, harms the body by inhibiting certain enzymes in the mitochondria. Anything that inhibits mitochondrial function will have vast health consequences as mitochondria produce the energy needed for cells to carry out normal functions.  Arsenic also depletes endogenous antioxidants (such as glutathione), contributing to oxidative stress and inflammation.

Common Sources of Exposure: Pesticides, Commercially-Grown Produce, Occupations (involving glass work, smelting, or semi-conductor production), Rice Products, Apple Juice

Areas of Storage: Liver, Kidneys

Health Effects: Higher Risk of Premature Birth and Fetal Mortality, Memory Problems, Poor Verbal Intelligence, Inflammation, Neuropathy, Cancers of the Bladder/Liver/Kidneys (4), Unfavorable Gene Mutations

Mercury

Mercury is likely the most dangerous heavy metal in the environment (5). It is attracted to fatty substances, such as the brain, and may increase your chances of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. It increases oxidative stress, inflammation, depletes antioxidants, and chronically over-stimulates the brain (eventually leading to brain cell damage).

Common Sources of Exposure: Larger Seafood (tuna, shark, swordfish, etc.), Dental Amalgams (silver tooth fillings), Some Vaccinations (containing thimerosal)

Areas of Storage: Brain, Nervous System (myelin), Liver, Kidneys

Health Effects: Brain Damage, Brain Fog, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Headaches, Poor Memory, Liver & Kidney Damage, Increased Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases, Neurodegenerative Disorders (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis)

Cadmium

Cadmium is a water-soluble heavy metal. What that means is the once exposed, your body will absorb it somewhat easily.  The mechanism by which cadmium harms the body is not fully known, however it is helpful to understand its areas of storage and common health effects.

Common Sources of Exposure: Tobacco, Contaminated Foods, Occupational (Soldering, Metal Working, Battery Manufacture)

Areas of Storage: Kidneys

Health Effects: Kidney Damage, Poor Calcium Metabolism (Kidney Stones, Osteoporosis)

Aluminum

Aluminum is the third most common element in the earth’s crust and was once the number 2 metal used in manufacturing across the globe (second to steel). Aluminum is leeched from the soil with increases in acid rain, which makes it more toxic to the body.

Aluminum has no biological role in the body while also inhibiting the normal distribution of calcium, phosphorus, and iron.

Common Sources of Exposure: Processed Foods, Some Vaccinations, Antiperspirant Deodorant, Canned Food and Drink, Municipal Tap Water

 Areas of Storage:  Aluminum can find a home in almost any tissue of the body

 Health Effects: Poor Cognitive Function, Bone Disorders, Neurodegeneration (Alzheimer’s), Breast Cancer, Anemia

*While all of these metals are concerning in of themselves, it is also important to note that some studies have shown a concerting effect. This means that having a combined toxicity of several heavy metals may actually be exponentially more harmful than any one metal alone.

Epigenetic Changes

While there are immediate ramifications of heavy metal exposure and accumulation, something that absolutely must be considered are the generational effects passed to offspring. Research is showing now that heavy metals can actually change the expression of our genes in ways that are unfavorable for good health (6). Additionally, certain heavy metals can be passed directly from the mother to the fetus in utero.

This means that, even if raised in a pristine environment (which is virtually impossible in today’s society) the ramifications of heavy metal toxicity can extend for several generations if not properly dealt with.

This means if you plan on raising healthy, vibrant children, you may want to consider testing and removing heavy metals from your system before conception.

Testing for Heavy Metals

There are generally three types of heavy metal testing strategies: blood, urine, and hair. The common downfall that these methods succumb to is not accounting for the fact that heavy metals can become deeply embedded in tissues. Generally, hair and urine tests can only measure the metals that an individual’s body is able to actually remove. Blood tests are typically only accurate after an acute and recent exposure to a heavy metal.

Generally, one of the best ways to get an idea of heavy metal levels in the body is to pull them from the tissues using a chelator (a substance that binds and detox heavy metals) and then measure what is excreted in the urine. This method is called a Heavy Metal Challenge Test.

Typically, in a heavy metal challenge test, one will collect 2 separate urine samples: one before ingesting the chelator and one after. This gives an accurate picture of the toxic burden in the body. To read more about this test, click the banner below.

Daily Detoxification Strategies

Modern day, it is virtually impossible to avoid all toxins in our environment. These range from heavy metals, to pesticides and plastic-derived compounds and none of them serve biologically relevant roles in the human body.

While there are certain ways to minimize your exposure, such as following a healing diet (here) and using non-toxic bath and cleaning formulas, it is imperative that you take steps to help your body remove toxins on a daily basis.

My Top 10 Daily Detoxification Strategies Include:

Super-Hydrating

Consuming a Healing Diet

Intermittent Fasting

Regular Exercise

Drinking Green Juices

Sweating (Sauna)

Using Essential Oils

Oil Pulling

Improving Bowel Motility

Using Activated Charcoal

To read more in-depth about these strategies, read my article: 10 Daily Detoxification Strategies

Advanced Metal Detox Protocol

When it comes to detox heavy metals from the body, there are three factors to be considered:

1. The body’s ability to excrete and detox heavy metals via the elimination organs (liver, kidneys, skin, and gut)

2. Removal of the metal at the cellular level

3. Restoration of the minerals that compete with heavy metals for cellular binding spots.

In order to effectively detoxify the body, you must be able to perform all of these functions. In chronically ill and inflamed individuals, there is often an inhibited ability to do both of these things. When you have cellular inflammation, it is particularly difficult to remove metals at the cellular level because the cell gets less efficient at transporting materials in and out of the cell membrane. Luckily, there are reliable ways of supporting both processes.

4 Phase Detox and Energy Support Protocol

To support your recovery from heavy metal toxicity, I recommend a 4-month protocol.  This protocol is not at this time FDA approved to prevent, mitigate, treat or cure any disease or serious health condition and should not be confused as such.

With that said, many people have seen significant improvement in their quality of life through following this protocol to support energy and detoxification.  Remember to be patient with the process and if you are severely ill; it is wise to work with a health care practitioner to guide you along the way.

Each phase is designed to be between 30 days and we will often repeat this cycle 2-3 times over the course of a year to get deep healing results.  You may also stay on phase IV for 6 months to a year after you begin to clear out as much heavy metals as possible.

Phase I – Support Energy & Drainage

The goal of Phase I is to improve bile ducts, healthy bowel movements, and mitochondria function. We are also working on getting rid of bacterial overgrowth and mold and fungal compounds in the body.

The liver and gallbladder are involved in the formation of bile, which is very important for your digestion. Bile ducts long tube-like structures that carry bile. To improve bile flow and your bile duct health: eat an anti-inflammatory diet, address food sensitivities, eliminate processed food, energy drinks, caffeine, and smoking; lower stress, reduce alcohol, address infections, and reduce environmental toxicity. Learn more about bile health in this article (21).

Healthy bowel movements are important for detoxification, digestion, metabolism, energy, and immune health. To support healthy bowel movements, eat an anti-inflammatory, gut-friendly, and fiber-rich diet with fermented foods and optimize hydration. Using Bowel Mover will also help you to get healthy and regular bowel movements.

The mitochondria are the powerhouse of your cell that is important for cellular energy, cellular repair, and organ metabolism. To support your mitochondria, eat a nutrient-dense ketogenic diet, move your body, reduce stress, practice intermittent fasting and take mitochondria-supporting supplements, such as CT-Minerals we will be using during this program. To learn more about mitochondrial health, read this article (22, 23, 24).

When dealing with biotoxin illness, we obviously have to tackle bacterial infections. However, there may be fungal or mold infections that you are dealing. Mold toxicity and fungal infections can be very damaging and may lead to respiratory issues, headaches, fatigue, nausea, mental impairments, skin inflammation, and other symptoms. This is why we also support recovery from mold and fungal infections during this phase. To learn more about mold toxicity, read this article (25, 26, 27).

Phase I Supplements

Advanced TUDCA: This is a fantastic supplement for drainage and liver support. Take 1 capsules twice daily in the morning and at night.

Bowel Mover: This supplement helps to move your bowels if you are experiencing constipation. Take 1 capsule in the morning and 2 at night.

BioToxin Binder: This supplement supports your microbiome and your immune system. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

CT-Minerals: These plant-derived minerals help your digestion, tissue repair, and energy. Take 1 cap in the morning and 1 cap in the evening.

Phase II – Gut & Immune Support

The goal of the second phase is to get rid of parasites and continue to support your mitochondrial health. We are also becoming more aggressive at getting the microbiome back in balance and pulling mold/fungal compounds out of the body.

There are a variety of parasites that you may have inside your body, including roundworm, hookworm, tapeworm, hook, nametode, and nematode. Parasites can increase inflammation and lead to various symptoms, including fatigue, brain fog, digestion issues, and more. When it comes to Lyme disease and parasites, it is thought that Borrelia and other co-infection causing pathogens can live inside these parasites.

Tick bites actually deliver nematodes inside your body that may carry these co-infections. This leads to more symptoms and complications and makes diagnosis and recovery more challenging. Furthermore, having too many bad gut bacteria and gut dysbiosis creates a feeding ground for parasites, further infections, inflammation, increased symptoms, and a higher risk of further disease. This is why Phase II tackles this with an aggressive approach (28).

To protect your gut flora and get rid of parasites, I recommend an anti-inflammatory, gut-healthy diet we discussed earlier. Certain herbs, including black walnut, sweet wormwood, garlic, oregano, tribulus, mimosa pudica seed, neem, wormseed, vidanga, passionflower, and clove are fantastic for parasite cleansing.

Para 1 and Para 2 are two supplements I recommend during this phase because they contain a necessary amount of anti-parasitic herbs. You may learn more about the danger of parasites, anti-parasitic herbs, and anti-parasitic nutrition in this article (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44).

Phase II Gut & Immune Support Supplements 

Advanced TUDCA: This is a fantastic supplement for drainage, kidney and liver support. Take 2 capsules twice daily in the morning and at night.

Para 1: This supplement is important for digestive and immune support. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

Para 2: This supplement offers digestive and immune support. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

BioToxin Binder: This supplement supports your microbiome and your immune system. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

CT-Minerals: These plant-derived minerals help your digestion, tissue repair, and energy. Take 1-2 caps drops in the morning.

Phase III: Whole Body Immune Support

In Phase III, we will continue to focus on getting rid of any parasites. We are continuing this process because it takes about two months to get rid of parasites.

We will continue to support your mitochondria. It takes about three to six months to get the mitochondria back in balance, so we will be focusing on this throughout this program. Since biotoxin illness often experiences additional viral infections, we are bringing in ViRadChem Binder to help your body get rid of viral infected cells and regain your health.

Additionally, Phase III also puts a major emphasis and lymphatic system support. Your lymphatic system is a major circulatory system and analogous to the drains in your home. A congested lymphatic system can lead to all kinds of issues including skin problems, fatigue, headaches, and weakened immunity.

To support your immune system, I recommend regular light exercise (walking, stretching, etc), breathwork, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, taking lymph-supporting herbs, including artichoke, burdock, sheep sorrel, astragalus, slippery elm or supplementation with LymphActiv, infrared sauna, dry brushing, proper hydration, massage, and chiropractic care. To learn more about your lymphatic system and lymphatic support, I recommend this article (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51).

Phase III Whole Body Immune Support Supplements

LymphActiv: This supplement offers essential lymphatic support. Take 1 capsule three times a day, in the morning, at noon, and at night.

Para 1: This supplement is important for digestive and immune support. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

Para 3: This supplement offers digestive and immune support. Take 10 drops in water in the morning and 10 drops in water around mid-day.

ViRadChem Binder: This supplement supports detoxification and protection from environmental toxicity and viruses and supports your immune system. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

CT-Minerals: These plant-derived minerals help your digestion, tissue repair, and energy. Take 1-2 caps in the morning and 1-2 caps in the evening.

Phase IV:  Systemic Detox 

In phase IV, we will continue to support your mitochondria and immune system. We will also add detoxification support for environmental chemicals and heavy metals.

Heavy metals serve no purpose in your body. Heavy metal toxicity can be very dangerous to your health. Heavy metals, including lead, arsenic, mercury, aluminum, and cadmium can increase inflammation, oxidative stress, and cellular interference. They can weaken your body making recovery from biotoxin illness more difficult.

Heavy metals and other toxins can lead to various symptoms, including fatigue, blurred vision, inflammation, joint stiffness, pain, weight gain, digestion issues, nervous system problems, and increased risk of cancer. As the mitochondria get stronger and our pathogen load goes down, we want to ramp up our aggressiveness in getting these out of the body.

Eating a nutrient-dense diet, proper hydration, movement, oil pulling, and other detoxification strategies that support cleansing, digestion, and elimination is critical. This is why we are adding HM-ET Binder for heavy metals in this phase (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57).

Phase IV Supplements

Advanced TUDCA: This is a fantastic supplement for drainage and liver support. Take 2 capsule twice daily in the morning and at night.

HM-ET Binder: This supplement supports detoxification from heavy metals. Take 2 capsules in the morning and 2 capsules at night.

LymphActiv: This supplement offers essential lymphatic support. Take 2 capsules two times a day, in the morning and at night.

CT-Minerals: These plant-derived minerals help your digestion, tissue repair, and energy. Take 1-2 caps in the morning and 1-2 caps in the evening.

Summary

Heavy metals are extremely difficult to avoid in our society. The health effects of heavy metal exposure range from minor and acute to chronic and debilitating if not addressed properly. Consider implementing daily detoxification strategies (here) to lessen the overall toxic burden on your body.

If you have tested positive for heavy metals, it is likely that they are playing a role in any significant health challenges that you are facing. Removing these toxins from the body can be one step in the process of regaining your health.

If you want to work with a functional health coach, I recommend this article with tips on how to find a great coach. Our website offers long-distance functional health coaching programs with our world-class team of health coaches. For further support with your health and other goals, just reach out—our fantastic coaches are here to support your journey.

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Sources For This Article Include:

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2. Jacobs, D. E., Clickner, R. P., Zhou, J. Y., Viet, S. M., Marker, D. A., Rogers, J. W., … Friedman, W. (2002). The prevalence of lead-based paint hazards in U.S. housing. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110(10). PMID: 12361941

3. Carrel, M., Zahrieh, D., Young, S. G., Oleson, J., Ryckman, K. K., Wels, B., … Saftlas, A. (2017). High prevalence of elevated blood lead levels in both rural and urban Iowa newborns: Spatial patterns and area-level covariates. PLoS ONE, 12(5). PMID: 28520816

4. Martinez, V. D., Vucic, E. A., Becker-Santos, D. D., Gil, L., & Lam, W. L. (2011). Arsenic exposure and the induction of human cancers. Journal of Toxicology. PMID: 22174709

5. Carocci, A., Rovito, N., Sinicropi, M. S., & Genchi, G. (2014). Mercury toxicity and neurodegenerative effects. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. PMID: 24515807

6. Bitto, A., Pizzino, G., Irrera, N., Galfo, F., & Squadrito, F. (2015). Epigenetic Modifications Due to Heavy Metals Exposure in Children Living in Polluted Areas. Current Genomics, 15(6), 464–468. PMID: 25646074