Heavy metals, like lead, can build up in the body and cause poisoning or toxicity. For most people, this is unlikely to happen from everyday exposures. Your clinician can tell you if testing is a good idea.
Heavy metal toxicity can be very dangerous, but it is the amount of heavy metals that you’re in contact with, or your exposure, that matters. Most people are not exposed to high enough doses to have heavy metal poisoning.
Wellness influencers have made a lot of claims about heavy metals and frequently suggest many tests and treatments to “cleanse” yourself of heavy metals. Heavy metals include several different elements. Elements are the building blocks of molecules. Some heavy metals are ones we need to survive like iron, zinc, and copper. Other metals don’t have a biological purpose in humans like lead, thallium, and mercury. We’re all exposed to small amounts of heavy metals in our environment. The exposure can be from things like rocks and soil, or from pollution. But the amount you’re exposed to matters for toxicity. Your body can get rid of small amounts of heavy metals via proteins (like glutathione), which bind to the metals and help your body get rid of them. But if the levels are too high, they can accumulate (or build up) in the body, which is when toxicity happens. Heavy metal toxicity is real and dangerous.
Watch this video (Part 1) and check out Rebecca Raskin’s full post to learn how heavy metal poisoning can happen and when your clinician may recommend testing and follow-up.
Video created by Nerdy Girl Nora E. Lindner, MPH.
