Toxic Heavy Metals

I like the way Bill Sardi writes and his article on supplements today is right on target. He talks about heavy metals - i feel the need to dive into the topic.

Furthermore, heavy metals like lead, cadmium, palladium and arsenic are ubiquitous (ever-present) in foods and pharmaceutical drugs and it is unfair to single out herbal supplements when the Documentary Standards Division of the US Pharmacopeia in Rockville, Maryland states that "screening for metals in medicines and dietary supplements rarely indicates the presence of toxic metal impurities at levels of concern."

Everybody has lots of metals in their body. But what people call metals are actually ions - cations to be more specific. Cations have various roles in biochemistry and the term heavy metals tend to refer to the transition metal area in the middle of the periodic table. Thus sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium are all metals but not heavy metals. Of the list quoted above, only palladium would be considered a metal. Lead, cadmium and arsenic are all very toxic elements and have features that disrupt biological systems.

Metals are absolutely necessary as biological catalysts. Toxicity is often a function of concentration - many elements bio-accumulate in places where they replace a more functional metal, effectively reducing the rate of bio-process.Our bodies need a proper balance of elements - your body functions to substitute what it has for what it needs - to keep you alive. Supplements grease pathways, and function by different mechanisms than pharma drugs.

A recent book by Gerald H. Pollack - Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life - proposes a phase change mechanism for material distribution. This intuitive approach makes sense for a lot of pathways : the concept of fractals should be taken an applied to the approach. How many other things have a phase change and what are the energetics - in terms of both entropy and energy. Structured water is the key to the picture - and heavy metals tend to do a good job of disrupting structured water.

You need trace amounts of toxic elements like selenium, molybdenum and arsenic. Good food has billions of billions of atoms and traces of every element. The dispersal of elements worldwide is an issue that needs to be investigated in more detail. Our current science approach likes to ignore inconvenient facts. Our media likes to frame facts to fit common perception. Think for yourself!!!

Science should be applied to proving hypotheses - not producing drugs, armaments, pesticides and illnesses. Learn how to feed yourself nutritiously and take responsibility for all the foods, supplements and substances that you put into your body. Including heavy metals.