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Your health care provider may order a heavy metal blood test if you have symptoms of heavy metal poisoning. The symptoms depend on the type of metal and how much exposure there was.
Some children under the age of 6 may need to be tested for lead because they have a higher risk for lead poisoning. Lead poisoning is a very serious type of heavy metal poisoning. It is especially dangerous for children because their brains are still developing, so they are more vulnerable to brain damage from lead poisoning. In the past, lead was frequently used in paint and other household products. It is still used in some products today. Young children get exposed to lead by touching surfaces with lead, then putting their hands in their mouths.
Even low levels of lead can cause permanent brain damage and behavioral disorders. Your child's pediatrician may recommend lead testing for your child, based on your living environment and your child's symptoms. A health care professional will take a blood sample from a vein in your arm, using a small needle. After the needle is inserted, a small amount of blood will be collected into a test tube or vial.
You may feel a little sting when the needle goes in or out. This usually takes less than five minutes. Some fish and shellfish contain high levels of mercury, so you should avoid eating seafood for 48 hours before being tested.
There is very little risk to having a blood test. You may experience slight pain or bruising at the spot where the needle was put in, but most symptoms go away quickly. If your heavy metal blood test shows a high level of metal, you will need to completely avoid exposure to that metal.
If that doesn't reduce enough metal in your blood, your health care provider may recommend chelation therapy.
Chelation therapy is a treatment where you take a pill or get an injection that works to remove excess metals from your body. Among the four plants, V. These results suggested that ROL of wetland plants could play an important role in Fe plaque formation and mobility and chemical changes of metals in rhizosphere soil under flood conditions. This increases the beneficial utilization of sewage sludge for agriculture. Toxic levels of heavy metals in the soil are responsible for the reduced chlorophyll content of the plants growing in polluted areas.
After composting of sewage sludges, positively influences on the growth and development of L. The results of the uptake of heavy metals by watercress show that the accumulation of Cu, Ni, Cd, Cr, Pb, and Zn in the crop is much lower than that required by the limited levels of Chinese criteria for vegetables.
Watercress is a proper plant to be used in amended kailyard KY soil with compost of sewage sludge without any threat of bi--magnification of heavy metals. Study suggested that mangrove wetlands with Sonneratia apetala Buc--Ham species had great potential for the removal of nutrients and heavy metals in coastal areas. Wetland plants not only take up nutrients e. Very good linear correlations existed between the biomass and the nutrients or heavy metals. This concluded that the Sonneratia apetala Buc--Ham species was more effective in the removal of nutrients than heavy metals.
Heavy metals are toxic, but their oxides are usually not. Actually the Bhasmas can be toxic or harmful to humans only if they are not prepared in the correct manner. As per Ayurveda, the bioavailability and toxicity of the metals depend on their chemical forms, especially of mercury, although some authors could not ascertain it experimentally.
The root was then thoroughly washed with water and boiled with two parts of cow's milk for the same duration. Processed aconite compound B processed only in cow's urine for 7 hr per day for 2 consecutive days.
Aconite processed only in cow's milk for the same duration compound C was also considered safe at 20 mgs. The study exhibited that compound A was totally non toxic followed by compound B and C, respectively, which were also reported to be safer than crude aconite.
Mercurous mercury, also called calomel, was used as diuretic, antiseptic, skin ointment, vitiligo, and laxative for centuries. Calomel was also used in traditional medicines, but now these uses have largely been replaced by safer therapies.
Other preparations containing mercury are still used as antibacterials. Navbal Rasayan NR a metal based ayurvedic formulation is used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis; study with NR in animals does not show any toxic effect.
However, decrease or attenuation of agonistic activities of histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin needs further exploration. Tamra Bhasma , a metallic ayurvedic preparation, is a time-tested medicine in ayurveda and is in clinical use for various ailments specifically the free radical mediated diseases.
Studies show that Tamra Bhasma inhibits lipid peroxidation LPO , prevents the rate of aerial oxidation of reduced glutathione GSH content and induces the activity of superoxide dismutase SOD in rat liver homogenate in the biphasic manner. Heavy metal absorbing capability of various natural agents adopted from Karnika et al Biosorption: An eco-friendly alternative for heavy metal removal, [ 46 ].
Deficiency of copper in the body causes weight loss, bone disorders, microcytic hypochromic anaemia, hypopigmentation, graying of hair and demyelination of nerves etc. However in higher doses, when given for a longer period, it induced lipid peroxidation, without any effect on the rate of survival but these tested doses are much higher than the human therapeutic doses. Effect of Tamra Bhasma on the survival of albino rats up to 30 days adopted from Pattanaik N.
Toxicology and free radicals scavenging property of Tamra Bhasma Heavy metals may exert their acute and chronic effects on the human skin through stress signals.
Findings suggest that heavy metals reduced the phosphorylation level of small heat shock protein 27 HSP27 , and that the ratio of p-HSP27 and HSP27 may be a sensitive marker or additional endpoint for the hazard assessment of potential skin irritation caused by chemicals and their products. It is generally believed that herbal and natural products are safer than the synthetic or modern medicines but even some indigenous herbal products contain heavy metals as essential ingredients.
Thus the expanded use of herbal medicine has led to concerns relating to its safety, quality, and effectiveness especially for Bhasmas as these are usually made of heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, copper, zinc, gold, and silver. Therefore, contamination of herbal drugs with heavy metals is of prime concern. The Indian population who frequent purchase ayurvedic herbal supplements, Bhasmas and Rasa , may not have understood that the traditional formulation contained heavy metals requiring special care and supervision.
Inhalation of mercury vapour produces acute corrosive bronchitis and interstitial pneumonitis and, if not fatal, may be associated with central nervous system effects such as tremor or increased excitability.
With chronic exposure to mercury vapour, the major effects are on the central nervous system. The triad of tremors, gingivitis and erethism memory loss, increased excitability, insomnia, depression, and shyness has been recognized historically as the major manifestation of mercury poisoning from inhalation of mercury vapor.
Sporadic instances of proteinuria and even nephrotic syndrome may occur in persons with exposure to mercury vapour, particularly with chronic occupational exposure. Kushta Tila Kalan KTK and Swarna Bhasma SB reported to produce immunostimulant, rather than immunosuppressant actions and analgesic actions, without descernible untoward effects at the doses used.
Worldwide debate is on for the use of ayurvedic metallic preparations. The use of herbal medicine, the dominant form of treatment in developing countries has been increasing in recent years.
Several metallic preparations are in clinical use since 12 th century. They have specific methods for their detoxification and Bhasma preparation, which becomes suitable for clinical use in therapeutic doses. Since centuries these preparations are sustaining themselves in use, therefore one can not just simply write off its usage just by assuming that heavy metals are toxic. Proper scientific documentation is the demand of time to validate the claims about these metallic preparations and also to ascertain whether the conventional Shodhan purification process of ayurveda is being properly followed or not.
Post controversy reports, it has now been made mandatory WHO guidelines that herbal products should be tested for their heavy metal content prior to export so that heavy metals remain within permissible limits. Source of Support: Nil.
Conflict of Interest: None declared. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Indian J Pharmacol v. Indian J Pharmacol. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Correspondence to: Dr. Reena Singh, E-mail: moc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Heavy metals are natural constituents of the earth's crust, but indiscriminate human activities have drastically altered their geochemical cycles and biochemical balance.
Keywords: Ayurveda, herbal preparation, hyper accumulation, phytoremediation. Introduction Any toxic metal may be called heavy metal, irrespective of their atomic mass or density. History Ayurvedic medicines originated in India more than years ago and rely heavily on herbal medicinal products HMPs.
Heavy Metals and Living Organism Living organisms require varying amounts of heavy metals. Table 1 Types of heavy metals and their effect on human health with their permissible limits. Open in a separate window. Figure 1. Table 3 Permissible limits for plant species adopted from Singh MR.
Heavy Metals Contamination of Vegetables Heavy metal contamination of vegetables cannot be underestimated as these foodstufs are important components of human diet. Heavy Metals and Polymers Metal ions are not only valuable intermediates in metal extraction, but also important raw materials for technical applications.
Heavy Metals and Ecosystem Heavy metal contaminations of land resources continue to be the focus of numerous environmental studies and attract a great deal of attention worldwide. Evidence in Support of Heavy Metals Heavy metals are toxic, but their oxides are usually not. Table 5 Effect of Tamra Bhasma on the survival of albino rats up to 30 days adopted from Pattanaik N.
Contradictory Claims about the Effect of Heavy Metals It is generally believed that herbal and natural products are safer than the synthetic or modern medicines but even some indigenous herbal products contain heavy metals as essential ingredients. Conclusion Worldwide debate is on for the use of ayurvedic metallic preparations.
Footnotes Source of Support: Nil. References 1. Singh MR. Impurities-heavy metals: IR prespective. A dictionary of chemistry.
Oxford university press. Oxford reference [Online]. Oxford University Press. Mcintyre T. Phytoremediation of heavy metals from soils. Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. Chopra A, Doiphode W.
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