Since 1997 I have been working with clients, testing them for toxic minerals and, if present, helping them to rid their bodies of toxic mineral accumulation. In my 17 years of practice while also studying the work of researchers in this field, I have learned that the body does not usually store toxic minerals found in food unless there is a deficit in the look alike nutritional mineral. Allow me to explain.
Many of the toxic minerals are similar in atomic size and electron configuration to specific nutritional minerals. When a human body is low in a particular essential nutritional mineral, it will look for another similar mineral to use in place of the nutritional mineral. Unfortunately, in many cases, the similar mineral is a toxic mineral.
Here is a list of nutritional minerals with the corresponding toxic minerals that have a similar configuration. To the body:
- Selenium looks similar to mercury.
- Zinc looks similar to cadmium.
- Calcium looks similar to lead.
- Magnesium looks similar to nickel, aluminium, and uranium. All three may accumulate if magnesium is deficient.
- With arsenic, protective minerals include selenium and zinc. Sulfur containing amino acids also help the body reduce arsenic toxicity along with the vitamins B12 and folate.
The way that it works is quite simple. For example, if the body tests high in cadmium, it is very likely that the person is deficient in zinc. This usually happens because the person has not been consuming enough zinc on an ongoing basis to fulfill their body’s needs. The person needs to up their zinc intake by consuming foods high zinc, such as pumpkin seeds, and a nutritional supplement with a human-useable form of zinc is also important. When the body finally gets the zinc that it needs, the cadmium will be excreted slowly over time and the body will not continue to store cadmium in the future.
This principle goes with food as well. For example, if you were able to get a complete mineral profile of a favorite food and found it had a high level of cadmium, you would also look at the level of zinc and want to see that the zinc level was quite a bit higher in that food than the cadmium level. In that scenario, the body would be more likely to absorb the zinc and discard the cadmium.
It is also important to know that minerals are found in many forms. For example, zinc supplements can be found as: zinc oxide, zinc gluconate, zinc carbonate, ionic zinc, etc. Some forms such as zinc oxide are very poorly absorbed by the body while other forms such as ionic zinc are highly absorbable and usable by the body. The form of the mineral is key.
Toxic minerals also come in different forms. For example, the type of arsenic usually found in food, known as organic arsenic, has a much lower toxicity level than the nonorganic form of arsenic found in the earth. In fact, according to scientists, arsenic found in fish, known as arsenobetaine, is nearly non-toxic. [1] Please note that the form of mercury found in fish is quite dangerous and should be avoided.
In conclusion, practically all types of food have some level of toxic minerals in them. Humans and all other species on this planet have evolved with both, nutritional and toxic minerals. Our bodies are usually capable of eliminating the toxic minerals found in food, provided they have adequate amounts of the corresponding nutritional mineral. We just need to make sure that our bodies do not go into nutritional mineral deficit and try to use and store toxic minerals in place of the nutritional ones.
Craig B Sommers ND, CN
(1) Cullen, William R; Reimer, Kenneth J. (1989). "Arsenic speciation in the environment". Chemical Reviews 89(4): 713–764.doi:10.1021/cr00094a002.
