January 17, 2011
According to my promise, I will give you several weeks of facts and figures on some of the different heavy metals that we are exposed to daily. As you read this, I ask you to consider, with the increased levels of all types of toxins in today’s world, how many of us have adequate elimination capabilities?
Aluminum is found naturally in our air, water and soil. It is also used in the process of producing cooking pots and pans, utensils and foil. Other items such as over the counter pain killers, anti-inflammatory products and douche preparations can also contain aluminum. Aluminum is also an additive in most baking powders, is used in food processing and is present in antiperspirants, antacids, paints, cosmetics, shampoos, toothpaste, dental amalgams, immunizations, bleached flour, grated cheese, table salt and beer, (especially when the beer is in aluminum cans). The biggest source of aluminum, however, comes from our municipal water supplies.
City water supplies usually contain a greater concentration because water is usually treated with aluminum (aluminum sulfate and aluminum fluoride) before it becomes part of our drinking water. These two chemicals can also combine easily in the blood and aluminum fluoride is poorly excreted in the urine.
Aluminum is a trivalent cation found in its ionic form in most animal and plant tissues. It is found in almost all natural waters everywhere. Aluminum is the third most prevalent element and the most abundant metal in the earth's crust. It is about 8% of the total mineral components in the earth. It is highly reactive and therefore is only found in nature in combination with other elements. It is estimated that the normal person takes in between 3 and 10 milligrams of aluminum per day!
Jose F. Bernardo, MD, MPH, FASN, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Renal-Electrolyte Division, University of Pittsburgh, states all metals can cause disease through excess. Essential metals and trace minerals are necessary to balance and help eliminate the toxic load. If deficient, the body’s ability to eliminate heavy metals and other toxins is greatly impaired. The toxic effects of a heavy metal load are dependent upon the amount of metal ingested, entry rate, tissue distribution, concentration achieved, and excretion rate. Mechanisms of toxicity include inhibition of enzyme activity and protein synthesis, alterations in nucleic acid function, and changes in cell membrane permeability.
Common symptoms of aluminum toxicity are: Muscle weakness, bone pain, fractures that do not heal, altered mental status, premature osteoporosis, anemia, impaired iron absorption, poor immunity, seizures, dementia, delayed growth in children and spinal deformities such as scoliosis or kyphosis. Of course there are many other possible causes of these symptoms or conditions but aluminum and other heavy metals need to be ruled out.
There is no known physiologic need for aluminum in the human body. The bad news is because of its atomic size and electric charge (0.051 nm and 3+, respectively), it can be a competitive inhibitor of several essential elements of similar characteristics, such as magnesium (0.066 nm, 2+), calcium (0.099 nm, 2+), and iron (0.064 nm, 3+).
Approximately 95% of aluminum in the body becomes bound to transferrin and albumin intravascularly and is then eliminated by the kidneys. In healthy subjects, only 0.3% of orally administered aluminum is absorbed via the GI tract and the kidneys effectively eliminate aluminum from the human body. But, what happens if the GI barrier is compromised or bypassed? One study showed intravenously infused aluminum was retained at a rate of 40% in adults and up to 75% in infants.
Aluminum is absorbed from the GI tract in the form of oral phosphate-binding agents (aluminum hydroxide) found in immunizations and in dialysate, which is used in patients on dialysis or those given total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Aluminum is also contacted by contamination, via the urinary mucosa through bladder irrigation, as well as what we referred to earlier in antiperspirants, in anti-acid medications and much of the cookware on the market, etc.
If a toxic load exceeds the body's excretory capacity, the excess is deposited in various tissues, such as bone, brain, liver, heart, spleen, and muscle. This accumulation causes illness and even death, especially in those that have kidney impairments. The use of dialysis has been shown to cause encephalopathy by excessive aluminum being deposited in the brain. As much as a ten fold increase of aluminum in the brain has been shown on some of the patients receiving hemodialysis solutions.
Aluminum causes an oxidative stress within brain tissue. The elimination half-life of aluminum from the human brain is 7 years. Research shows the damage comes from the element's interference with neurofilament axonal transport and neurofilament assembly. Some experts believe it plays a role in leading to the formation of Alzheimer-like neurofibrillary tangles. Somes researchers suggest that the heterogeneous symptoms of autism spectrum disorders have a connection with dysregulation of glutamatergic neurotransmission in the brain along with enhancement of excitatory receptor function by proinflammatory immune cytokines as the underlying pathophysiological process.
Aluminum and other heavy metals have been referred to as excitotoxins and have been reported to affect the microglia in the brain and cause inflammation and irritation. Researchers have reported the central nervous system to be extremely sensitive to metal induced oxidative stress. High aluminum concentrations have been found in postmortem brain tissue of patients with Parkinson's disease. We will discuss nutritional factors that have shown to be a positive influence on toxic elimination and brain protective mechanisms at the end of this article.
Aluminum also has a direct effect on hematopoiesis and has been shown to induce microcytic anemia. Aluminum may cause anemia through decreased iron synthesis, decreased globulin synthesis, and increased hemolysis. Aluminum may also have a direct effect on iron metabolism since it influences absorption of iron by the intestine. Therefore aluminum interferes with iron's transport in the serum and displaces iron's binding to transferrin. Patients with anemia from aluminum toxicity often have increased reticulocyte counts, decreased mean corpuscular volume, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin. The immune system has also been shown to be compromised in aluminum and other heavy metal burdened patients.
In preparing this article, I reviewed over twenty published articles. I do not list these citations because the Puzzle Pieces are not designed to be scientific peer reviewed articles. They are designed to give you quick information about very broad subjects.
I feel it is imperative to screen each patient with the Heavy Metal Challenge, using Nutri-West’s Homeopathic Metals. This technique will be discussed at each Nutri-West/Brimhall Seminar and will be covered in great detail at the January 28-30, 2011 Homecoming. How to use Blood/Urine Chemistry and Saliva will also be discussed thoroughly because we must evaluate our patients FUNCTIONALLY to know the whole story.
Other nutrition to be considered would be: Total Chelate (to help the body eliminate heavy metals), Total Inflam (to help reduce inflammation in the body), Super-OX (anti-oxidant), Total Brain, Core Level Kidney, Total Green, Total Veggie and Total Fiber etc.
Please join us at Homecoming. You can see how just one heavy metal can cause multiple symptoms. We must evaluate and treat FUNCTIONALLY!
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON HOMECOMING
See You There!
John W Brimhall, BA, BS, DC, FIAMA, DIBAK & The Wellness Team