6 Chelating Foods for Removing Heavy Metals Naturally
Heavy metals can do significant damage to the body. Historically, they’ve been used as “an instrument of murder” (in the case of arsenic) and even instruments of war. The reality is that we are all exposed to a concerning amount of heavy metals, pesticides and related contaminants daily. The good news is that there are natural chelators and even chelation foods that can help you chelate heavy metals from your body.
In high amounts,
Certain substances bind to heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium, facilitating their removal from the body.
This process, known as chelation, is crucial because heavy metals can accumulate in vital organs, leading to various health issues, including neurological and cardiovascular problems.
This word actually comes from the Greek word “claw” and was used because early practitioners saw substances that they believed grabbed a hold of the metals and carried them out of the body through the digestive system.
The term stuck.
Read: 7 other Methods for Cleansing Your Body of Toxins.
Fortunately, there are foods with natural chelation properties. In cases of minor exposure, you don’t need to spend a fortune on prescriptions or even supplements in order to restore optimal health. The following are natural
1. Amino Acids
Amino acids have been identified as potential agents in
According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, certain amino acids, such as cysteine and methionine, contain sulfur groups that can bind to heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium, facilitating their removal from the body.
The chelating ability of amino acids is particularly significant as it offers a less invasive and more biocompatible alternative to traditional chelation therapies, which often involve synthetic agents and can have adverse side effects.
These proteins are found in eggs and fish, among other things, and can work to increase liver health and balance enzyme production.
2. Cilantro
Cilantro is just one super-herb that can effectively remove heavy metals (aluminum, mercury, and lead in particular). Also, because these metals can damper the immune system, cilantro is also recognized as an immune-booster.
Cilantro (leaves of Coriandrum sativum), a popular culinary and medicinal herb, gained attention when a soup was reported to enhance mercury excretion following dental amalgam removal. Though evidence was limited.
In animals, it decreased lead absorption into bone and inhibition of the delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) enzyme.
Here is an interesting article on how cilantro and chlorella may tackle heavy metals together.
3. Food Grade Activated Charcoal
Dr. Al Sears, MD, has his patients use food-grade activated charcoal for general detoxifying; this includes detoxing heavy metals.
For
4. Brazil Nuts
Not necessarily a chelation food, Brazil nuts actually work to restore the good minerals, like selenium and zinc, which may be lost in the chelation process.
5. Onions
The sulfur in onions (and garlic) can also work to eliminate heavy metals. Along with these, things like eggs, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage also have high sulfur content.
6. Chlorella
The superfood known as chlorella can serve as a mild chelation-helper. You can find it in supplement form or as a powder to add to various dishes.
You may be able to combine all of the foods above for a hefty natural chelation recipe. Let us know what you think!
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I’ve performed many detox protocols myself, but remember it’s always a good idea to consult a health professional before embarking on your own detox journey.
Share your experiences below as well to help everyone learn from other people’s perspectives.
Lastly, check out our detoxification hub for more articles like this.
Additional Sources:
Is it safe to do si hike breastfeeding? Or will it release metals into breastmilk? I know it was not good while pregnant. I love garlic and cilantro
I’m tired of seeing articles on how to detox metals.
For instance a person may have a pretty heavy load of metals and not be aware of it. They don’t feel good, but don’t know why. Along comes this article, and they say, what the heck, can’t hurt anything.
If the elimination organs are not functioning well, and they usually aren’t ,or metals wouldn’t accumulate, in the first place, then all these metals that have been mobilized are now free to land in new places and cause more damage.
How do I know this. I have heavy metal toxicity. Eggs and garlic make me very sick as does selenium and especially chlorella. I spent yrs eating these foods ,feeling really bad, till I joined a group for metal toxic people and found out that these things were making me worse.
I feel that there is more to the story than what you've said, there has to be something else going on with your body and that's why the eggs and garlic didn't work for you. Why would toxins lodge somewhere else in the body if the body recognizes that it's being attacked.
Excellent comment. In my over 35 years of wellness and macrobiotic counseling I have seen far too many thousands of people who are excessively cavalier regarding the bodies finite capacity to actually discharge excesses such as heavy metals. The term that I use is” toxic traffic jam” WD which occurs when the elimination organs reach their maximum capacity to eliminate and then the toxicity load is transferred to other organ systems wreaking in many many cases havoc on the person's overall vitality and health.
The quality of simplistic suggestions and recommendations; without the accompanying cautionary notes and big picture perspectives is a problem. Critical thinking and macro [large view] thinking is highly recommended. 🙂 lindigo, Thank you for sharing and adding to the conversation.
So, why is maximum capacity reached? is the person doing too much detoxing all at once
'macrobiotic counseling', lol. Your polysyllabic blather is condescending nonsense. I have thirty years in this area and your institutional blather belongs there, in an institution, not here where most of us would avail typically ourselves of secondary research after introduction to something new. This subject is not new for me of course, but those who visit this site are not the type of shlubs that submit to your brand of … 'service' and as such are capable of thinking for themselves (gasp).
Wayne, I’ve been taking a whole food supplement, Lifestar Genesis, which also includes some kind of heavy metal chelators in food form, for several months now while breastfeeding. Now may baby has borderline lead levels. Do you think this could be the reason? They told me that it’s ok. That she must be chelating metals from her own system as the helators would go through my milk. Also, im worried as now im
I hear you, but is it accurate to equate “chelator” with “mobilizer”? Do you know for a fact that anything that will chelate will miss some that mobilizes in the process? Link please. My understanding of a chelator is that it assimilates (‘grabs onto’) a toxin and then the combined is excreted. This is different conceptually from mobilization.
I totally agree. I have a practitioner who does muscle testing and nutritionals and he can tell where the toxicity is and does muscle testing to see what supplements are the most bioavailable. Never treat yourself in these cases.
Not safe,DO NOT mobilize metals when you are pregnant.This will definitely end up in your breastmilk.
Meant to say while breastfeeding ,although not good at anytime if pregnant or breastfeeding.
Lindigo, Can you offer some sound advice, please, thank you.
Lindigo, how can you be sure the people you are talking now about metal detoxing are correct, , if you don't agree with this article, outlining what to do in case of metal buildup in our body's. You are jumping from one boat to the next, badmouthing the first boat. Education and knowledge is power and i like the information on this article.
Mary.
Hi Rebecca.
What I can offer is, caution in how you approach this. I know people who were toxic and did IV chelation and did fine. I know people who were made very sick by doing this. If you are a poor eliminator, you must be very very careful. Heavy metals, mercury in particular once mobilized, if not eliminated, will land in new areas not previously occupied, now causing damage to more of your body. All the foods mentioned are NOT chelators, they are mobilizers. Once metals are mobilized it’s a crap shoot. That said ,again, there are people who will be OK with this but for the ones who are not, it can be more sickness, more time to heal etc etc. I’ve been there more times than I like to remember.
I recommend a little book, Natural Mercury Detoxification, find it on Amazon.It explains all this in detail.
As I stated in my reply to Rebecca, these foods are mobilizers, not chelators. Many people can not handle excess mercury and become ill.
If you are a good eliminator, no problem. However if you have accumulated metals in the first place, it is usually because you are not a good eliminator. Why add fuel to the fire?
Nnnnnh
Please do some research. Many people with mercury toxicity, do not handle sulfur well at all, because sufur foods increase glutathione, which will mobilize mercury and if it is not eliminated, it will land somewhere in the body and cause new problems. The way this works is, mercury due to it’s extreme toxicity and the body in it’s deep wisdom, will bury it deeply in the tissues to keep it from causing more harm. Once you pull it out of these tissues, if not eliminated, it will land somewhere, till the body has a chance to again sequester it. My main complaint will the article, is the casual approach to a possible nightmare. Heavy metal detox is not to be taken lightly.
Joel,
Chelators are supposed to bind tightly to metals and escort them out of the body. Even the so called “best” chemical chelators like DMPS.DMSA,ETDA are not guaranteed. Mobilizers on the other hand are just that mobilizers. Many chelators do not bind tightly and drop the metals. So ,you have pulled metals, from deep in the tissue, only to have it, still in the body ,in a new place.
DMPS has exhaustively proven for decades as has EDTA. Get informed.
How does it work?
EDTA is a chemical that binds and holds on to (chelates) minerals and metals such as chromium, iron, lead, mercury, copper, aluminum, nickel, zinc, calcium, cobalt, manganese, and magnesium. When they are bound, they can’t have any effects on the body and they are removed from the body.
Kefir and kombucha are superior anti-oxidants and dump heavy metals from the body. Stalin discovered this in a heavy industrial mining town in the USSR. Folks who drank kombucha did not get cancers attributed to heavy metals.
What about Zeolite or infer-red sauna and coffee enema, I read an article about these being used to clean and mobilize. Any thoughts out there.
interesting…my doc has me on EDTA suppositories right now…to be taken every other evening…..I’ll retest in about a month
Have been doing chelation for 35 years when I was told I needed a By-pass. Never had the surgery- now want to add chelation from natural foods to protocol. BELIEVE!
Went organic 10 years ago
clinatro and chlorella is dangerous if your really toxic. Its better to start with chlorella first to bring down the level metals out of the digestive tract. Cilantro pulls from the brain but also can move metals into the brain if your real toxic. IMO a person typically will end up trying all the chelation techniques such as natural foods, IVs, and oral chelators in a attempt to get rid of the metals out of the body.
The fact most of you people refer to toxicants as toxins is enough to invalidate anything you calim to have expertese in
I may be 2 years late but the question always needed to be answered is… if the body is equipped on its own to handle any kind of toxicity … then why do people end up with lead poisoning, mercury poisoning.. and other questions I ask myself is… what can cause things like alzheimers disease… there is no answer for that.. or there would be a cure for it, but what if metal toxicity is one of the reasons why people get it. The metals passing the blood brain barrier and interfering with the brains neurons functioning efficiently! The reason why I ask this question is because there are countless diseases/illnesses where if you look them up they have multiple reasons people get them for instance glaucoma has 3 different ways according to Doctors one can get it.. one is trauma to the eyes another is genetic predisposition and the 3rd being steroids … what really causes it ( and we also know by Lawyers advertising on TV that people can develop diabetes by medications given them)? I don’t pay any mind to anyone who wants to say chelating isn’t necessary because obviously if the liver and kidneys functioned the way some of you think then there wouldn’t be any metal poisonings at all!!