Strategies to Boost Your Immunity—Part 4

Strategies to boost immunity have to take into account avoidance of toxic metals. Our immunity is mostly impaired by lead and arsenic, but cadmium and mercury can also play a part, although their effects are more pronounced in other organ systems of our body.

KEY  TAKEAWAYS

Lead sources

• paint and pipes in old houses
• soldering pipes (sometimes used for imported food cans)
• batteries
• pottery glaze
• imported toys
• imported herbal remedies
• cocoa powder
• cosmetics (lipsticks and hair dyes)
• vaping—tank-style e-cigarettes

Arsenic sources

• rice
• other plants grown on soil previously treated with arsenic pesticides
• contaminated ground water
• fish and shellfish—although less toxic
• smoking

Both lead and arsenic can impair many functions of the white cell lines, production of their mediators that fight infections, as well as the antibodies production. Children with early life exposure to arsenic had more frequent and more severe respiratory infections.

Decreasing our “serving” of toxic metals should be part of the strategies to boost immunity. The problem here is they’re more difficult to avoid because of previous careless industrial and agricultural practices.

LEAD

Although no longer used in paint and gasoline, lead is still around us. People living in houses built before 1978, unless renovated, can have paint chips laying around. From these, contamination of household dust with lead can happen. Moreover, old (Victorian) houses with lead pipes still exist and this can be another source for lead poisoning of their inhabitants.

Even if not used anymore in gasoline, lead still contaminates the soil especially around highways and urban areas. Taking shoes off is a very healthy habit because it keeps many contaminants from soil, such as lead and pesticides, at the door.

Soldering pipes using lead can contaminate the water, more so around the time this is done. Plumbers are probably even more exposed because they can inhale the fumes produced during this process. Other construction workers, as well as auto-repair workers and battery manufacturers are exposed too. Lead-free soldering is available and being used more and more.

Imported canned foods can still be soldered using lead. This is another reason, beside BPA (bisphenol A), to avoid canned goods. Ceramic glaze on pottery can also contain lead, as can imported toys.

Herbal remedies from many areas of the world can contain lead, while cocoa powder can be contaminated with lead and cadmium. Cosmetics like lipstick, lip liner, or lip gloss can contain lead and the same is true for hair dyes with lead acetate.

Of increased concern now is the exposure to lead subsequent to vaping, especially in teenagers and young adults. High concentrations of dangerous heavy metals like lead (and copper) were found in vapors produced by some types of tank-style e-cigarettes.

Mayo Clinic states: “Exposure even to low levels of lead can cause damage over time, especially in children. The greatest risk is to brain development, where irreversible damage can occur. Higher levels can damage the kidneys and nervous system in both children and adults.”

Here is more information about symptoms related to lead toxicity.

The Flint water crisis that made headlines a few years ago, had to do with high levels of lead in the city’s water supply and that made a lot of people sick.

Although we may think we don’t have that much exposure to lead, we still do. Taking into account the hidden sources is very important for many aspects of our health, not just as a part of strategies to boost immunity.

ARSENIC

Known as a poison in ancient world, until not too long ago arsenic and related compounds were used as pesticides and herbicides. They were applied to orchard crops, mostly apples but peaches and apricots too, and other crops—like potatoes.

More recently phased out, they’re still allowed on cotton crops and tobacco. Once used, arsenic remains in that soil indefinitely and the amounts accumulate.

Exposure to arsenic happens through contaminated water and the subsequent use of water for crops irrigations, washing food items, as well and cooking them.

Reverse osmosis water filters are the most efficient in getting rid of arsenic (and lead), while carbon filters eliminate about 70 percent of it. Levels of these metals in your drinking water can be obtained from regional water suppliers, to be able to appreciate if you need to install this filter.

Fish and shellfish can also be dietary sources of arsenic, although exposure from these foods is generally much lower compared to exposure through contaminated groundwater. In seafood, arsenic is mainly found in a less toxic form—linked to sugar molecules. Farmed fish may have other toxins because of fishmeal, as discussed in a previous post.

Due to water contamination, we need to pay special attention to eating rice, regardless what region of the world it originates from. Why does rice have more arsenic than other crops? Rice grows under flooded conditions, thus has longer exposure to arsenic-contaminated water.

Organic rice is just as much affected; brown rice contains more arsenic than the white rice. Apparently, basmati rice has lower levels.

A lot of attention has to be paid to other rice products (rice cereals, rice pasta), especially for babies. People on gluten-free diets can be exposed to higher levels, because of the higher amounts they may consume.

Smoking is another source of arsenic exposure. Tobacco plants pick up more arsenic from the contaminated soil. To make things worse, lead arsenate insecticides are used on tobacco crops.

Skin lesions and skin cancers are the most common manifestations of low levels arsenic poisoning, but the immunity cell lines are impaired as well.

SMOKING

We already know how detrimental to our health smoking is, I will not go into many details.

I just want to repeat the well-known facts that mothers who smoke during pregnancy expose their babies to preterm delivery, low birth weight, and birth defects. They also expose themselves to complications throughout pregnancy.

People who smoke are aware that they get more frequent and more severe infections, and go on to develop chronic lung problems and breathing difficulties. They also have higher chances to develop cancers, and not just pulmonary types (throat, esophagus, stomach , bladder cancers, cervix).

What they may not be aware of is that exposing their children to smoking before birth, during infancy and childhood, leads to increased susceptibility to respiratory and ear infections because of altered immune function at multiple ways.

When the dependence to nicotine is so powerful, quitting is very difficult, but many determined people do it. More to the point of strategies to boost immunity, not exposing the children at any point to the numerous toxins present in cigarette smoke will improve their health in may aspects and throughout their life.

In one of my next posts I will write more about a chemical I mentioned above, namely BPA (bisphenol A), in regards to how this can impair our immunity. For additional benefits about avoiding BPA you can download my FREE report right here, right now.