Mercury

[Guest guest]

CONCEPTS FOR SAFE HUMAN BODY MERCURY REMOVAL

BY BOYD HALEY, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF CHEMISTRY

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

The following is my opinion on the use of natural materials and compounds

that may be safely used to remove mercury from the body. It is totally

based on the science known about how the mammalian body removes toxic

mercury. I do not present any opinion on EDTA, DMSA, DMPS or BAL or other

manufactured chelators. It is my opinion they should be used only after the

use of natural compounds has failed. Using the adage " First, do no harm " I

think that supplementing the body's metabolic system that is active and

needed for natural removal of mercury is the best approach. This is not as

much " chelation therapy " as " anti-oxidative stress therapy " and is based on

the supplementation that enhances the production of materials normally used

to remove heavy metals.

It is my opinion that safe removal of mercury is best done by

supplementation and IV treatments that supply the body with reducing

equivalents, natural compounds used by the body to remove mercury, or

otherwise protect the body from the toxic effects of mercury. I am not

certain of the optimal dosage for any of these natural compounds as the

clinical trials have not yet been done. It is likely that the amounts

needed will be different for each patient. I think the first thing is to

give the body supplementation that will increase the " reduced status " of our

cells. In normal healthy cells the levels of reduced forms of many natural

compounds is quite high and this protects us from reactive oxygen species

(e.g. free radicals) and heavy metal accumulation. It is well known that

vitamin-C is used to produce increased reduced status. For example it is

well known that Vit-C produces NADH (the reduced form of oxidized NAD+) and

this NADH is used to convert oxidized glutathione (GSSG) back to 2 molecules

of reduced glutathione (2 GSH).

Vit-C is also an electron donor to heavy metals in biochemical pathways.

Vit-C, in a test tube can donate electrons to Ag2+ and Hg2+, reducing them.

The same is likely to happen in patients given high dose Vit-C IV making the

metals have less affinity for cellular proteins and aiding in their removal.

Vit-C also contributes to the total reducing equivalents in the body and

greatly reduces " oxidative stress " that accompanies heavy metal toxicity.

Finally, vit-C crosses all cellular membranes, including mitochondrial

membranes, and the blood brain barrier. This is something that DMPS and

DMSA cannot claim to do and you cannot remove the mercury if you can't get

to it. The reported dose that many MDs use is 0.75g/kg body weight or about

50 grams/150 lbs body weight.

Second, supplementation with lipoic acid (an oxidized dithiol), which is

rapidly converted to dihydro-lipoic acid (the reduced form with 2 -SH

groups) has been shown to elevate Hg2+ removal from rats toxic with mercury.

Reduced lipoic acid has a dithiol similar to DMPS/DMSA that can bind mercury

with high affinity, but not quite as high as these two drugs---but it is a

lot safer if taken in appropriate doses as it is a component of essentially

all foods. Also, in the mitochondria the first step leading into the citric

acid cycle the enzyme complex, pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDH) requires

lipoic acid and this site is readily inhibited by Hg2+. Therefore,

supplementation with lipoic acid may also help reactivate this enzyme. I

really don't know the best dose of alpha-lipoic acid to use, but start low

and increase it until you feel satisfied with the mercury removal

enhancement of this compound.

Third, IV GSH is a good idea immediately following high dose vit-C as GSH is

low in the blood while it is high intra-cellularly. If one mobilizes

mercury it is a good idea to have the GSH high in the serum to bind and

remove the mercury via the liver's bilarly transport system----which is the

way the adult body normally removes toxic mercury. MDs I have talked to use

doses of 0.5 to 1.5 grams. Note, vit-C is a reduced compound as is GSH,

therefore vit-C cannot oxidize GSH as many people seem to think---the

chemistry just is not there for this to happen.

Supplementation of many patients may be enhanced by addition of 1-3 mgs of

melatonin every night just before bed. The rationale for this is that as we

age the amount of melatonin we produce decreases, especially after age 40.

Pretreatment with melatonin has been shown to protect neurons and muscle

cells from oxidative stress and toxicity produced by addition of mercury.

Supplementation with selenium may prove effective. Se2+ forms a very tight

bond with Hg2+ and forming HgSe (similar to HgS, mercury sulfide or cinnabar

the ore where mercury is mined from) would greatly reduce the toxicity of

body mercury. However, it may also interfer with the removal of mercury

from the body as HgSe would not be removed by GSH or lipoic acid. One

should also consider that any patient who is mercury toxic should also be

selenium deficient as the mercury would remove the selenium from

bioavailability.

Supplementation to increase sulfur containing amino acids in the body. Both

cysteine and methionine are short in our diets due to food processing and

oxidation on bleaching, cooking etc. I know that cysteine increases Hg2+

crossing the blood-brain barrier but it also serves in a positive way

numerous important biochemical processes in the body, including being needed

in the synthesis of GSH. Supplementation with methionine seems appropriate

and not to have any known down side.

Finally, I don't think anyone has the best way to remove mercury from the

human body down pat. We need clinical research to determine this, but to

get this research done we have to convince our government it is a problem.

I would recommend, as a biochemist/toxicologist that all MDs addressing this

issue use the natural compounds to supplement and strengthen the body's

metabolism redox state to healthy levels, then determine if additional

mercury chelating drugs are helpful.

After the patient is showing improvement it may be advantageous to use DMPS

or DMSA to enhance the removal of mercury. I am not totally against their

use but I do not think they are the best or safest way to approach removal

of mercury from a very sick patient due to their own toxicity as British

Anti-ite agents.