Heavy metals are found everywhere in the environment and can cause severe damage to human health. Heavy metals can cause damage to the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, kidneys, liver, endocrine glands, and bones. In addition to the direct and toxic effects, certain metals can cause hypersensitivity reactions ("allergy" or delayed type IV hypersensitivity) in sensitive individuals, resulting in responses from the skin, endocrine glands, and immune system.
Testing of stools for Heavy Metals provides information
- About the toxic heavy metals body burden through environmental exposure, i.e., through diet and drinking water, through the use of oral medications and nutritional supplements as well as swallowing worn tooth fillings
- Regarding eliminating certain heavy metals from the body (such as Mercury, Cadmium, Lead, Antimony, and Uranium), since the excretion through bile in the feces is the leading natural way of their removal from the body. Thus, identifying these metals in the feces can indirectly give information about their accumulation in the body.
- The administration of metal-binding agents (chelating agents) eliminates toxic heavy metals, mainly through the kidneys in the urine. In contrast, support for natural detoxification methods enhances the excretion rate of poisonous metals (via bile) in the feces. The Stool Test for Metals provides essential information for monitoring the effectiveness of natural metal detoxification methods in children and patients on well-defined diets that do not contain heavy metal contaminants.
Heavy metals exert their effect on the body in two ways. First, minimal metal concentrations can cause hypersensitivity reactions (type IV immune response). The permanent immune system stimulation from constant exposure to metals can include all aspects of chronic inflammation, such as increased local inflammatory processes, autoimmune reactions, and fatigue. Second, metals such as mercury, cadmium, and palladium have toxic effects even at low doses and inhibit many cellular metabolic processes. Even very low (sub-toxic) concentrations may be of clinical significance, as multiple sources of exposure (from food and water) may enhance the toxicity of the metal. Toxic effects and allergic sensitization to metals occur independently.
To whom Heavy Metals Extended Profile, Stool is addressed
Studies in experimental animals and epidemiological studies in humans suggest that chronic exposure to heavy metals can cause, among others:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autistic type disorders
- Depression and mood disorders
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases)
- Chronic fatigue and feeling of reduced energy
- Infertility
- Cataract
- Hypertension
- Delayed type IV hypersensitivity reactions, such as:
- Psoriasis
- Eczema
- Multiple sclerosis
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Sjogren's syndrome
- Thyroiditis
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Fibromyalgia
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
Checking stools for metals is a valuable way to assess the body's exposure (through food, water, and drugs) to various heavy metals exposure. For example, if the consumption of food or water contains high concentrations of heavy metals, then the stool test will be positive. However, just because stool tests show elevated levels of heavy metals does not necessarily mean that their levels are high in the rest of the body. For this reason, testing some other biological material for heavy metals (hairs or nails, blood, urine) is also recommended. If these tests are positive, the metals detected in saliva are absorbed into the body.
The measurements are performed using the ICP-MS method (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry), which enables the simultaneous detection of many metals. Its sensitivity and accuracy are significantly better than the conventional atomic absorption method, which can measure metals in concentrations up to 1 in 1015 (1 in 1 quadrillion, ppq)!
