Q & A: Test Your Knowledge About Heavy Metals
See the PDF version of this Q&A here
1. Which of the following is not a heavy metal?
a. Mercury
b. Aluminum
c. Lead d. Tin
e. Arsenic
ANSWER: e. Arsenic
2. True or False: Drinking 2-4 green vegetable drinks per day will effectively remove heavy metals from the body?
ANSWER: False. Various antidotes (detoxifi er) are required to remove different metals and toxins
3. True or False: All three major forms of mercury are detoxifi ed from the body the same way?
ANSWER: False. A combination of chelators (substances that remove heavy metals) is necessary to remove mercury in its various
forms.
4. True or False: Headache, fatigue and muscle aches are some symptoms which can results during the process of heavy metal and
toxin removal and always mean that the detoxifi cation process is working.
ANSWER: False. These symptoms could also mean that adverse organ responses are occurring.
5. True or False: Mercury levels are best checked in blood?
ANSWER: False: Mercury from fish is best checked in urine, but all three major forms of mercury are best checked in a variety of
tissue samples including urine, plasma and red blood cells. Failure to check all three of these tissues will result in inadequate total
body mercury burden assessment.
6. True of False: Hair analysis is a reliable test of heavy metal toxicity in organs?
ANSWER: False: Hair analysis may not be as reliable as other types of toxin testing and does not reflect organ burdens.
7. Some fi ndings on blood work that might indicate a predisposition to heavy metal burden include which of the following:
a. Low or low normal chloride
b. Low or low normal uric acid
c. High IgM
ANSWER: All can indicate heavy metal body burdens
8. True or False: “Free metals”, metals not bound with proteins, are the forms of metals which are responsible for tissue damage
and symptoms?
ANSWER: True. Urine free metals assessment may indicate toxic burdens.
Hello Admin,Speaking of which, I wanted to test my indoor air for heavy metals (lead, etc), the air conditioning, etc. How can I do this myself? What equipment/knowledge would I need?
BTW great blogpost