Lead toxicity: Not just in Michigan. Top 5 surprising sources of lead where you live.

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Dr. G

A mentor and colleague of mine, Dr. Chris Turnpaugh, told me a story that best illustrates something that is rarely discussed: the subject of almost any environmental toxicity such as lead, mercury and arsenic exposure, among many others.

Dr. Chris told me of a case of a woman in Texas who suddenly became very ill. Her symptoms were of rapid onset and included mental confusion, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and other severe gastrointestinal symptoms. A visit to the emergency room revealed blood in her urine. With all of these symptoms, the doctors did extensive blood testing and they discovered she had arsenic exposure that were at levels that could only be explained by arsenic poisoning.

Upon this discovery, the authorities arrested her husband for poisoning his wife. After all, that was the only possible explanation…or so they thought. The attorney for the defense very wisely had the husband’s blood checked as well. The husband showed no signs of illness whatsoever; however, his blood showed levels of arsenic that exceeded his wife’s. It turns out they had both been working on a home deck building project where they were using pressure treated wood, now known to have high levels of arsenic that can not only leech into the ground soil but can be inhaled when using power constructions tools like drills, sanders and saws.

But why was his wife sick while he had no symptoms? The next test that was performed was to see if there was a difference in their levels of glutathione. Glutathione is the most powerful antioxidant in the human body; glutathione is our most potent detoxifier and glutathione is our most powerful regulator of the immune system. The husband’s levels of glutathione far exceeded his wife’s. His glutathione levels protected him. The good news is that glutathione is produced in the body, unlike other antioxidants that are far less powerful such as vitamin C, selenium, vitamin E, and beta carotene, which you have to consume.

When it comes to any form of environmental exposure, from heavy metals to mold, you need adequate levels of glutathione to protect your brain and liver. The Flint, Michigan story shines the light on the fact that every town, city, neighborhood, building or home that has old infrastructure has the potential to cause exposure to substances at levels that can put us at risk.

Top 5 surprising sources of lead exposure and what you can do about it.

1. Water supply. 10-20% of lead toxicity is due to older water pipes that were constructed with lead.
2. Dust. In buildings and homes older than 1978 (lead was removed from paint and other materials in 1978), it’s not just about paint chips but it’s also about paint dust. Dry, flaky paint can easily be present in the form of dust. Read this post on indoor air pollution– section 2 discusses vacuum cleaners. This will help you understand how vacuums can kick up dust particles that remain in the air for 8-10 hours for us to breathe in before they settle.
3. Toys. Made in China. Need I say more?
4. Soil (garden, vegetables, playground, artificial turf). Urban gardens and metropolitan area soils have high lead content. Some vegetables bioaccumulate lead, and some do not. What’s interesting is that the veggies that bioaccumulate the least lead use the same glutathione mechanism as we do to remove the lead. Carrots, root veggies and green leafy veggies can bioaccumulate more than others. Soil does not degrade lead content, and the lead that fell from the atmosphere from automobile exhaust fumes prior to 1978 (when lead was removed from gasoline) is still present in the soil we use for our gardens and playgrounds. Lead has also been used with artificial turf.
5. Antiques and antique furniture. Same story as the paint. People love to refurbish and refinish old furniture. That usually requires sanding and stripping of older layers. This adds to the dust exposure discussed above.

Let’s just assume you have had exposure to high levels of environmental toxins, heavy metals, mold and the like. What do you do about it and what shouldn’t you do about it? The first reaction of most people is, “Get this stuff out of me! How do I get rid of it?” Kind of like when people are diagnosed with a tumor; the first reaction is, “Cut this thing out.”

These immediate reactions are understandable and not necessarily wrong, but there are other considerations. Please consider the following.

1. If you have been exposed and you test for high levels of lead or other toxins.Determine your body’s reaction to it. As illustrated above in the story of the couple in Texas, we do not all react the same way.
   1. Determine if you are immuno-reactive or not. The immune system cannot react to a heavy metal, it can only react to a protein. Therefore, if your immune system is engaged, it’s because your immune system is reacting to your own cells that have the toxins attached to them. This does not always happen. If you want to know if your immune system is reacting, you can get a very specific test from Cyrex labs that determines immunoreactivity to very common toxins.
   2. If you are not immunoreactive, it may not be a good idea to try to remove the toxins. I will explain below why I feel this way.
2. Are you still being exposed to toxins and what can you do to end the exposure?
   1. Abatement. Can be expensive, but sometimes it’s necessary to hire a company to remove building materials that have lead content.
   2. Containment. Paint over surfaces that are old and may contain lead. This seals the lead under a protective layer of new paint. Do not go through the process of sanding and removing old layers unless it’s performed by an abatement expert.
   3. Wash veggies well. The lead absorbed by most vegetables negligible, but it’s important to clean the surfaces to remove residue from the soil.
   4. Water filtering systems. There are many. Some are very effective at removing toxins, while others, not so much. Filter your bathing water and/or the main water supply. Filter your drinking water.
   5. Use a vacuum system that uses water as a filter, not a dry filter.
3. Use your natural detoxification pathways to remove excess levels of anything in the body that doesn’t belong.
   1. Raise glutathione levels. This is done by making sure you are able to process and have access to adequate B vitamins and methyl donors.
   2. If you have a methyl donor genetic defect, which is very common, special supplementation may be required. A MTHFR genetic defect may raise blood levels of homocysteine, which translates to lower levels of glutathione. Homocysteine is a commonly ordered blood test; unfortunately, its importance is rarely considered by the medical profession unless the levels far exceed 10, in some cases 15. The truth is that it should be under the number 8. Most doctors I have spoken with are not aware of the inverse relationship between homocysteine and glutathione. They only consider elevated homocysteine as a risk factor for a cardiovascular event.
   3. Have adequate supply of the nutritional precursors of glutathione: cysteine, glycine and glutamate (glutamic acid). Of these 3 ingredients, cysteine is the rate-limiting ingredient since it is not present in many foods.
      1. Foods rich in cysteine
         • Healthy meats
         • Pork (must be hormone, antibiotic, nitrate and nitrite free and preferably pastured)
         • Shellfish
         • Nuts and seeds (preferably raw)
      2. Supplement the cysteine precursor to glutathione. NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine) in a therapeutic dose.
4. Glutathione as a supplement. In the case of excessive exposure, we may want to help our body increase its supply of glutathione by using exogenous sources. Glutathione is not meant to be taken exogenously. Therefore, oral supplements have historically not worked due to the fact that glutathione is removed immediately by phase 1 liver detoxification pathways before it can ever circulate.
   1. IV glutathione has been used very successfully, but this can be very inconvenient and unaffordable for many people. It requires a 20 minute IV session multiple times. A 20 session protocol over 6 weeks can cost $4000.
   2. Liposomal glutathione is an oral, affordable form that is dissolved in an oil and therefore can be absorbed and circulated. Since cysteine is a sulfur-based amino acid, glutathione can taste and smell like rotten eggs. Very few companies make it palatable or potent enough, but there are some. Like NAC, it must be a therapeutic dose.

Glutathione is an important detoxifier for all our cells, most powerfully in the brain, kidney and liver–the organs most affected by many toxins, including lead. Glutathione is also a major regulator of the immune system, reducing the likelihood of an unnecessary autoimmune attack against your cells that have lead or other toxins attached to them. Finally, glutathione is our most aggressive anti oxidant, and oxidation is a major feature of why lead is a problem for us and our children.

Why is removing toxins through chelation not such a good idea?

Removing heavy metal toxins is sometimes done with an oral or IV chelator like DMSA (dimercaptosuccinic acid) and EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid). These can be both prescription and over-the-counter. Please read this section very carefully. I am not sure I am comfortable with these products being available over the counter.

Chelation will bind all metals, not just toxic ones. Examples are iron (needed for oxygen delivery by red blood cells and basic energy production needs, among many other functions), calcium, manganese, to name a couple important minerals and nutrients that we can lose with chelation. Therefore, professional supervision is recommended.

There is another drawback to chelation. If the substance we wish to remove is just sitting there, not causing an immune response or interfering with our body functions, then the act of picking it up and circulating it around with the chelating agents can increase the risk of “tickling” the immune system and increase the likelihood of depositing the toxins in one of 3 places: the liver, kidneys and brain, where they can do the most damage.

Testing can include:

• Levels of common toxins in the blood, urine, hair.
• Determining if there is an active immune response.
• Checking to see that you are efficiently able to detoxify.

If you are not sure which tests to do, or what your next steps are in determining the possible effects of toxicity, please call our office and schedule a consultation so that we may help you.

Thanks for reading!