Is your food, water, beauty product contaminated with Lead

 Have you ever bought a lipstick, any type of beauty --cosmetic product and wondered if it contains lead; Have you ever wondered what your canned food maybe contaminated with and what the dangers are?

Lead is one of the most toxic metal contaminants known. It is a cumulative poison that is retained in the body. Even at low levels, lead that is not excreted through the digestive system accumulates in the body and is absorbed directly from the blood into other tissues. When lead leaves the bloodstream, it is stored, along with other minerals, in the bones, where it continues to build up over a lifetime. Lead from the bones may then reenter the bloodstream at any time as a result of severe biologic stress, such as renal failure, pregnancy, menopause, or prolonged immobilization or illness. Lead has no known function or benefit to humans but disease and death. Lead is a metabolic poison because it inhibits some basic enzyme functions. Lead reacts with selenium and sulfur containing antioxidant enzymes in the cells, seriously diminishing the ability of these substances to protect against free radical damage. When present in toxic amounts, it can damage the heart, kidneys, liver and nervous system.  The body cannot distinguish between calcium and lead. Once lead enters the body, it is assimilated in the same manner as calcium. Because young children and pregnant women absorb calcium more readily to meet their extra needs, they also absorb more lead than other people. Children absorb 25 to 40 percent more lead per pound of body weight than adults do. People with deficiencies of calcium are more susceptible to lead toxicity as well.

Where can you find Lead?

Lead is most widely used metals in the united states today; Sources of lead exposure include lead-based paints, ceramic glazes, lead crystal dishes and glassware, leaded gasoline, lead-acid batteries used in automobiles, tobacco, liver, water, some domestic and imported wines, canned fruits (the lead from lead-soldered cans leaches out and is absorbed by fruits), garden vegetables (if grown in lead-contaminated soil), bone meal, and insect ides. Even such innocuous-seeming items as vinyl mini blinds and porcelain-glazed sinks and bathtubs have been implicated in lead exposure.

Another potential source of lead poisoning is water supplied through lead piping. Lead piping was used in most homes built before 1930. Newer homes use copper pipes; however, even if you have copper pipes in your home, the chances are very good that they were assembled with lead solder, which is 50 percent lead. Solder can leach a significant amount of lead into the water supply, especially in the first few years after installation. Due to mounting concern over the amount of lead leaching into the water, the use of lead solder was banned in 1986.

Lead poisoning first gained widespread public attention when large numbers of children, especially children in inner cities, were found to have been poisoned by chips of lead-based paint that had peeled off the walls. Lead-based paints were banned for use in housing in 1978. All houses built before 1978 are likely to contain some lead-based paint. However it is the deterioration of this paint and elevated levels of lead contaminated house dust. More than 4 million of these dwellings are homes to one or more young children. Newer buildings are required to use non-lead-based-paints. Some children acquired high lead levels from playing in lead contaminated dirt, which would get on their hands and then into their mouths.

How toxic is lead?

 Lead reduces IQ, Lead may cause SIDS---Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
People with lead poisoning commonly have days of severe gastrointestinal colic. Their gums often turn blue, and they may experience muscle weakness. Other possible symptoms include anxiety, arthritis, confusion, chronic fatigue, diarrhea, gout, insomnia, learning disabilities, and loss of appetite, a metallic taste in the mouth, seizures, tremors, and vertigo.

Lead poisoning can eventually lead to blindness, loss of memory, mental disturbances, and mental retardation, paralysis of the extremities, and even coma and death. Chronic lead poisoning can also cause erectile dysfunction, infertility and other reproductive disorders, and liver failure.

Since then, it has been learned that pregnant women who have high levels of lead in their bodies can give birth to babies with high lead levels. Lead stored in the mother’s body is free to cross the placenta to the fetus. Children born to women who have toxic amounts of lead in their bodies generally suffer from growth retardation and nervous system disorders. Even low-level lead exposure in young children may be associated with impaired intellectual development and behavioral problems.

A low level of lead in children may lead to lifelong problems, such as severe reading difficulties, learning disabilities, poor eye-hand coordination, retarded growth, and slowed reflexes. High levels of lead in the body have also been linked to autism, behavioral problems, hyperactivity and juvenile delinquency.

How can you test for lead?

Hair analysis can be used to detect heavy metal toxicity but if the hair sample is contaminated by dye or other sources of lead result may be inaccurate.

Hybrivet system makes the kit for testing for lead in water and lead check swab that can be used to test dishes for lead.

Chelation with EDTA can help prevent accumulation of lead. Chelating agents work by binding to lead in the bloodstream and eliminating it from the body in urine.

A portable, battery-operated testing system that can analyze lead levels in the blood within three minutes is available. LeadCare 2 is a testing unit developed by ESA Biosciences Inc. (www.esainc.com) and And-care Inc. of Durham, North Carolina

One way to get an indication if your child may be at risk of developing lead poisoning is to have a veterinarian check the lead level in your family dog. Long before children show symptoms of lead poisoning, dog can get colic, then diarrhea or vomiting, and even seizures. Dogs ingest lead the way small children do---licking toys covered with lead-filled dust, chewing old paint on walls or furniture, or putting things covered with old lead paint flakes in their mouths.

What food helps detox lead from the body?

• Activated Charcoal will help get rid of heavy metals in the body and blood stream.
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• Chlorella and cilantro are helpful for absorbing toxic metals.
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• Alfalfa is rich in vitamins, minerals, and other valuable nutrients, and has a detoxifying effect on the body.
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• Aloe Vera gel taken in the morning and at night helps soften bowel movement and aids in removing metals from the digestive tract.
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• Eat beans, pectin, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, eggs, garlic, kale, legumes, onions, spinach; okra binds to toxins to help get rid of lead.
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• Drink filtered water---steam-distilled water.
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• Alpha-Lipoic acid helps detoxify the body of metal pollutants and works as a powerful antioxidant.
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• Vitamin B complex, vitamins B1 (thiamine), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) are vital in cellular enzyme function and important in brain metabolism; they help to remove lead from the brain.
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• Vitamin C with bioflavonoids helps to neutralize the effects of lead.
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• Garlic protects the body’s immune system and helps to bind with and excrete lead.
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• Kelp contains essential minerals, especially calcium and magnesium. Kelp helps removes unwanted metal deposits.
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• Calcium and magnesium prevents lead from being deposited in the body tissues, also avoid bone meal and cow milk that may have traces of lead in it.
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• L-lysine plus L-cysteine and L-cystine; Sulfur-containing amino acid that act as detoxifiers and remove heavy metals.
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• S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) has antioxidant effects and helps chelate heavy metals and remove them from the body.
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• Vitamin A with mixed carotenoids plus vitamin E is antioxidants that destroy free radicals and protect the cells from damage due to lead poisoning.

How to reduce your exposure to lead

Check CDC--center for disease control and prevention to find out if the toy you bought is been recalled because of lead issues. 

Old Antiques and other collectibles may leach traces of lead and should not be used for eating but only for decorative purposes.

Avoid old glazed ceramic dinner wares like cups, mug for hot tea.

Never boil water longer than necessary. Boiling concentrates heavy metal contaminants in water, including lead.

Avoid buying foods items or edible food in cans sealed with lead solder, which leaches into foods. Lead-soldered can often have remnants of solder and indentations along the seam. If you buy canned foods, look for lead-free cans that have no side seams. Be wary of imported canned foods. Buy glass canned food or mainly raw food as much as possible whenever you can especially when it is vegetable like tomato or seafood that are commonly sold in cans.

If you drink wine, always wipe the mouth of the bottle well (inside and out) with a damp cloth before pouring the wine. The foil wrappers around the corks of wine bottle can deposit lead around the mouth of a bottle and contaminate the beverage.

Avoid Lead based hair colorings or dye products containing toxic ingredients. According to the cosmetic, Toiletry, and fragrance Association, 80 percent of the hair-coloring products designed for men use, the so called progressive coloring agents, which are made of lead acetate. It is known that some lead is absorbed through the scalp, which could leave you at the risk of lead poisoning.



Reference: Mostly from complete Encyclopedia of nutritional medicine.