What Is a Heavy Metal Detox? And Do You Need One?
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Medically reviewed by Elizabeth Barnes, RDN
Heavy metals are metals with high densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers. Some heavy metals are either essential for human health (such as iron, cobalt, and zinc), but can be toxic in larger amounts or certain forms. Other heavy metals (such as mercury or lead) are highly poisonous.
Heavy metals can enter your body through your skin, or by inhaling them or ingesting them. When this happens, heavy metal poisoning can occur. Some reports indicate that people are exposed to heavy metals due to the prevalence of industrial, agricultural, and sewage waste. However, exposure also can occur through your diet, medications, and work as well.
Having too much of a heavy metal in your body, like lead or mercury, can cause toxicity or poisoning. If a doctor feels that you need treatment for heavy metal toxicity, they may prescribe a heavy metal detox, or chelation therapy.
Chelation therapy involves using a medication or another substance (called a chelating agent) to bind metals or minerals so they can be excreted from your body. This procedure can be risky, and sometimes life-threatening, so it should never be done without medical supervision.
Here is what you need to know about heavy metals and heavy metal detoxes.
What Are Heavy Metals?
Heavy metals, which are metallic elements that have a relatively high density compared to water, are found naturally in the environment. They also are present in certain foods, medicines, and supplements. Even chemicals used in industry and farming may contain heavy metals that can end up in the air, soil, and water.
Some heavy metals like zinc or iron are essential for your health, but can become toxic if you have too much. Other heavy metals, like arsenic, serve no purpose in your body and can harm you if they build up to toxic levels.
Here are some examples of heavy metals:
Symptoms of Heavy Metal Toxicity
Because heavy metal toxicity often produces such general symptoms, diagnosis can be challenging. Typically, a healthcare provider will ask about your work, diet, and lifestyle to get more insight into what may be causing your symptoms.
That said, is not uncommon for people with heavy metal toxicity to experience a number of gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. You also may notice tingling in your hands and feet, shortness of breath, chills, and muscle weakness. Even memory loss, changes in behavior, and arrhythmias can be signs of heavy metal toxicity.
How Is Heavy Metal Toxicity Diagnosed?
If your healthcare provider suspects heavy metal poisoning, they may order a heavy metal toxicity test. Typically, these tests include blood, urine, or hair samples and are designed to measure the level of heavy metals in your body. These tests can be ordered individually or simultaneously.
With a blood test, a healthcare provider will draw blood to test it for heavy metal toxicity. You may be asked not to eat some fish and shellfish 48 hours before your test due to the fact that these foods often contain mercury. If results reveal high levels of heavy metals in your blood, this may mean that you have heavy metal toxicity, but not always. Even if you do not have symptoms of toxicity, you may be asked to avoid contact with heavy metals.
If your blood test results show that you have medium to low levels of heavy metals in your body, but you still have symptoms, your healthcare provider may order tests of your urine, hair, skin, and even fingernails to rule out toxicity. This is because some heavy metals exit your bloodstream quickly and can be stored in your tissues, so blood tests do not always reflect the true picture.
Some organizations like the American College of Medical Toxicology recommend against routine heavy metal testing because everyone has detectable levels of lead, mercury, and other metals in their blood and urine. If you have no clinical signs or symptoms of toxicity, there is no need for intervention and, therefore, no need for testing.
Instead, they recommend testing only if you have a known exposure to a toxic metal or a suspected exposure to a metal and the presence of symptoms consistent with the exposure. They also say testing is appropriate as part of bio-monitoring if you are consistently exposed to toxic metals due to your job. But testing outside of these parameters is not needed.
Heavy Metal Detox Methods
If your healthcare provider diagnoses you with heavy metal toxicity, they may recommend treatment to help your body get rid of the heavy metal as quickly as possible. This may involve taking medications.
But there also are times when food, supplements, and lifestyle changes may be recommended to rid your body of heavy metals, too. Here is a closer look at some of the ways your body may be detoxed of heavy metals.
Chelation Therapy
In some cases, your healthcare provide may recommend chelation therapy, which involves either taking an oral medication or receiving an injection of a medicine that helps remove the heavy metals from your body. Sometimes chelation medication is administered through an intravenous (IV) line.
Some healthcare providers suggest chelation therapy for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. In fact, one study found that people experienced a modest reduction in heart-related events after chelation therapy compared with a placebo. But because chelation therapy can be dangerous, most practitioners recommend a heart-healthy diet and lifestyle changes to address the disease instead.
Dietary Changes
If you have been diagnosed with heavy metal toxicity, your healthcare provider may suggest that you make changes to your diet and cooking methods. For instance, they may recommend you eat more plants like fruits and vegetables.
Not only do these foods provide a variety nutrients, but they also contain phytochemicals, which can have beneficial effects against toxicity. Some examples of recommended foods might include onion, garlic, ginger, green tea, curry leaves, soybeans, grapes, tomatoes, berries, and more.
Likewise, leafy greens contain folate which helps with arsenic metabolism. And, some fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants like vitamin C, Vitamin E, glutathione, carotenoids, and flavonoids which can protect your tissues from the damaging effects of toxic metals. They also may recommend that you avoid cooking with aluminum pans, refrain from eating too much fish and shellfish, and have your drinking water tested—particularly if you have well water.
Supplements
Sometimes a healthcare provider will recommend supplements if they suspect heavy metal toxicity. But you should not self-administer supplements without talking to a provider first. Not only can a provider advise you on the correct amounts to take, but they also can let you know which supplements will interact with your current medications or if the supplement is not appropriate for you given your medical history.
That said, there is some research that taking probiotics can help with heavy metal detoxification. In fact, research shows that these supplements can bind to certain heavy metals such as aluminum, cadmium, lead, and arsenic, and eliminate them from your body when you have a bowel movement.
Additionally, spirulina (a type of blue green algae) may help alleviate heavy metal toxicity, too. And, curcumin may guard against heavy metal toxicity. Though the role of supplement use in treating heavy metal toxicity is promising, more research is needed to determine what is safe and effective.
Related: Supplements That Should Not Be Mixed
Lifestyle Changes
There also is some evidence that exercise—and sweating in general—may help the body detox itself of heavy metals. For instance, research shows that exercise-induced sweating can effectively remove harmful heavy metals from your body.
In fact, researchers note that sweating is more effective than urinating when it comes to removing chromium, copper, cadmium, lead, and zinc from the body. Exercise also can reduce the level of trace heavy metals in the body. Using a sauna also may be an effective way to rid the body of heavy metals, but more research is needed.
Potential Risks of Heavy Metal Detox
It is important to note that chelation therapy is only approved for a limited number of conditions involving documented heavy metal poisoning and it must be carried out by a healthcare provider using prescription medications. Any other type of heavy metal detox is extremely risky and likely not effective or safe.
For instance, chelation therapy is approved to treat toxicity caused by iron, mercury, arsenic, and lead. That said, you may see others suggesting—or even offering chelation therapy—for conditions like autism and Alzheimer's disease. But there is no scientific evidence supporting these treatments—and they expose people to risks without any real benefit.
Chelation therapy of any type is a dangerous undertaking. Not only can it cause very low blood pressure, lung injury, infections, and kidney damage, but high doses also can lead to coma and seizures. Plus, people who are allergic to penicillin, may also experience allergic reactions to chelation therapy.
Chelation therapy can even cause death. For instance, a 5-year-old with autism died after being inappropriately treated with a chelating drug. Additionally, a 53-year-old woman without any notable or documented heavy metal poisoning died during chelation therapy by a naturopath.
Finally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning advising people to avoid over-the-counter (OTC) chelation products that are marketed to prevent or treat diseases. The only chelation therapy products that are FDA-approved require a prescription and must be supervised by a healthcare provider. They also note that these OTC chelation products can cause dehydration, kidney failure, and even death.
What's more, many of these companies also market home test kits that are promoted to “diagnose” heavy metal toxicity. But the FDA says these kits are a marketing scheme used to convince people to purchase unapproved OTC chelation products. These test kits also may offer false or misleading results.
Related: Should You Try a Juice Cleanse?
A Quick Review
When you come in contact with heavy metals—either by inhaling them, ingesting them, or touching them—you run the risk of developing heavy metal toxicity or heavy metal poisoning if the levels in your body become high. This can cause a number of gastrointestinal symptoms as well as irregular heartbeats, tingling in your hands and feet, and cognitive issues.
If a healthcare provider suspects heavy metal toxicity, they may run a series of tests to check your levels and then recommend various treatment options. Chelation therapy, or a heavy metal detox, is one option. However, it is extremely risky and should only be done under medical supervision. OTC chelation products are not FDA-approved and can injure your kidneys or even cause death.
If you suspect that you have heavy metal toxicity or you have been exposed to heavy metals, it is important to see a healthcare provider for a full evaluation.
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