Update on Mercury,
Pregnancy and Fish

We reported several months ago on a story related to pregnant women's exposure to mercury.  At that time, the FDA recommended that they avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish, and consume no more than12 ounces of cooked fish each week. 

Now, however, two advocacy groups, the Environmental Working Group and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group have concluded that as many as one in four pregnant women could endanger the long-term development of their children if they follow the dietary guidelines issued by the FDA.  The groups also identified other fish species that pregnant women should not eat, including fresh tuna, sea and largemouth bass, and Gulf Coast oysters, and urged that canned tuna, mahi mahi, and eastern oysters be consumed no more than once monthly. 

On the positive side, though, the advocacy groups identified nine types of seafood as not having been found to contain high mercury levels. These include farmed trout and catfish, shrimp, fish sticks, summer flounder, wild Pacific salmon, croaker, haddock and blue crab.

The Environmental Working Group estimates that if all pregnant women ate 12 ounces of FDA-recommended fish per week, one quarter of these women would be exposed to potentially harmful levels of mercury. Mercury is known to cause nerve and brain damage in high levels and may be responsible for some cases of autism and developmental delay. The report from these agencies comes as the Bush administration considers whether to uphold a Clinton plan regulating mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants, a potential source of the contamination. 
 

Chelation with Vitamin C Helps Put Vascular Patients Back on Their Feet Again

A report in the April 2001 issue of Circulation states that vitamin C concentrations are significantly lower in patients with peripheral vascular disease than those who don’t suffer from the condition.  The blood concentration of vitamin C in those with peripheral vascular disease was almost half of that found in normal people and those with high blood pressure.  But perhaps even more interesting was the fact that both groups had a similar dietary intake of this vitamin.  The group with peripheral vascular disease also had a higher level of C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker of vascular disease.

Peripheral vascular disease affects the circulation in the legs and feet.  In its severe form, affected patients may not be able to walk because of severe leg cramping. Other signs of this disease include cold extremities, poor pulses, and leg ulcers.  Traditional treatment for peripheral vascular disease involves a synthetic bypass graft to shunt blood around clogged arteries.  This treatment has a high rate of failure.  In a recent issue of the Journal of Advancement in Medicine, a vascular surgeon compared outcomes for patients with peripheral vascular disease.  He offered them a choice of leg bypass surgery or chelation therapy, and kept tabs on the effectiveness of both. 

What he found was that those patients who received bypass surgery could not walk any further than they could before the operation, and some even needed to be operated on again.  The group that chose chelation therapy, however, demonstrated improved walking capacity and none required surgery.   One of the ingredients in chelation therapy, incidentally, is a high dose of vitamin C – indicating a need for more medical research into the benefits of vitamin C and other antioxidants, administered via chelation, in treating this condition. 

In a separate, but related report, laboratory analysis of several brands of Omega-3 rich fish oils did not test high for mercury.  The Omega-3 fatty acid DHA is essential for brain development in newborns, and high levels of another, EPA, are protective against heart disease and cancer.  For those wishing to avoid the risk of mercury toxicity during pregnancy, supplementation with a complete essential fatty acid blend may be a healthy alternative to eating fish.

Although you may not be aware that many degenerative diseases can be traced to heavy metal toxicity, you are probably familiar with the dangers of lead. Now research indicates that even "safe" levels of lead may be harmful. Children exposed to lead scored substantially lower on standard intelligence tests, by a factor of 11.1 IQ points. 

Children are exposed to lead by inhaling dust from paint, eating paint flakes, and also from playing in grounds contaminated with lead.  While lead was eliminated from gasoline over 20 years ago, automobile exhaust has deposited this toxic metal in the soil for years.  In high doses, lead can produce kidney damage, seizures, coma, and death.  Lower doses may produce learning difficulty, hyperactivity, and conduct disorders. 

Even though this study was performed on blood levels of lead, many more children’s exposure levels are likely to go undetected.  Lead rapidly travels from the blood and settles into the brain, kidneys, liver, and muscle.  Therefore, routine blood screening may be inaccurate in determining lead toxicity.  Tests of the stool and urine for lead are more accurate.  Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, tin, and mercury have been found in many of our patients.  Many unexplained medical conditions can be related to heavy- metal exposure, and appropriate treatment has  resolved or improved such conditions.  If you suspect heavy metal poisoning may be contributing to health problems, ask our doctors if you are a candidate for testing.