Get the Lead Out
Get the Lead Out
High lead levels in some Chinese-made toys has been a hot news topic lately. But if you don’t have children and you don’t have toys in your home, you might have noted this issue and thought, “Not my problem.” If so, you don’t know lead.
We pick up traces of lead from many sources: water, air, food, house dust in older buildings, automobile components, hair dyes, and even candy. And if you’ve reached retirement age, you’ll never guess where you’re picking up some lead: from your bones.
I can’t help you get lead out of your car or your house dust, but there are steps you can take to minimize the problem of lead in your bones.
Aged to imperfection
I recently came across a sobering USA Today report that highlighted lead research from Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and other sources.
The fact that lead is stored in bones is not a new discovery. But over the past decade, researchers have found that bones release lead into the bloodstream along with calcium. This release is prompted by three life-changing events that have profound effects on the body: pregnancy, menopause, and old age.
Introducing lead into the blood during pregnancy endangers the neurological development of the fetus as well as brain development in infants who may pick up lead through breast-feeding. Fortunately, the phase-out of leaded gasoline has paralleled a sharp decline in blood levels of lead among children and women of childbearing age.
But for those of us who came of age long before unleaded gas and paint, the lead stored in our bones poses substantial dangers.
For instance, here’s a list of health risks associated with lead exposure. Notice how many of them are symptoms we typically associate with aging:
- Fatigue
- Joint and muscle aches
- Anemia
- Memory and learning difficulties
- Reduced cognitive function
- Difficulty sleeping
- Impaired motor skills
- Decreased sexual drive
- Decreased sperm production
- High blood pressure
- Loss of appetite
- Constipation
- Stomach cramps
- Nausea
- Increased risk of miscarriage
- Behavioral problems
Ellen Silbergeld, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told USA Today that blood levels of lead may be as much as 25 percent higher in post- menopausal women due to the thinning of bones which prompts lead to leach into the bloodstream. She notes that this lead infusion may also increase heart disease risk.
Escorting lead from the body
If you’re as disturbed as I am to learn just how leaded we are, you’ll be relieved to know that a calcium supplement might help considerably.
Adrienne Ettinger, a Harvard bone lead expert, told USA Today that calcium supplements reduces the likelihood that calcium will be leached from bones, into the bloodstream. This also reduces the leaching of lead from bones. Ettinger adds that 1,200 milligrams of calcium taken daily has been shown to significantly lower blood levels of lead in nursing mothers.
Chelation therapy may also help the cause by purging lead already in the bloodstream.
Chelation was first developed more than 50 years ago by the U.S. Navy to treat lead poisoning. In recent years it’s become a somewhat controversial method for removing calcium plaque from artery walls. Chelation contains vitamins, minerals, and a synthetic amino acid (EDTA), which binds to heavy metals and removes them from the body through urination.
You can find more information about chelation in the e-Alert “Passing on the Bypass” (1/23/03) at this link: http://www.hsionline.com/ealerts/ea200301/ea20030123.html
Sources:
“Where Does Lead Go? Into Bones” Liz Szabo, USA Today, 10/30/07, usatoday.com
“Lead – Health Effects” Occupational Safety and Health Administration, osha.gov
