Cilantro, Seaweeds and Mercury

[Guest guest]

Hi All, & Roger,

 

Roger wrote:

> All of my sources seem to agree that fresh cilantro is best for

> **mobilizing** Hg from the connective tissues.

 

What sources, Roger? Western or Oriental, or both?

 

I did a Google search last night, entering the Hanzi characters for Herba

Coriandri (Cilantro) - Yansui (aka Yansuiye; Xiangcai (Chinese Parsley);

Husui; Yuansui; Xiangsui) and Semen/Fructus Coriandri - Yansuizi (aka

Husuizi; Yuansuizi; Xiangsuizi; Yansuiguo.

 

Though I found several Chinese sources, none of them mentioned

expelling heavy metals, although they did mention the herb class as

Release Surface~Acrid/Spicy~Warm ~Expel Wind + Expel Cold, and

main actions as: (1) Clear Heat; Make Sweat; Release Surface+Erupt

Papules/Rash; Expel Impurity; (2) Quicken SP+Harmonise SJM-SP-ST;

Strengthen ST; Stomachic; Appetiser; Carminative; Spasmolytic;

aromatic; (3) Boost Libido; Antioxidant/Antiageing.

 

> Though (Cilantro) needs to be combined with seaweeds and other chelator

> foods (such as seaweeds, chlorella, garlic, etc.) in order to prevent

> reabsorption from the intestines, several people have reported to me

> that they have had bad Hg detox reactions using only cilantro, but

> when combined with seaweeds, things went smoothly.

 

Routes of Hg excretion include the gut (bile/faeces), skin (sweat & hair),

KI (urine), LU (breath) and mammary gland (milk). But to get to the

excretory route, Hg stored in the tissues (bone, brain, etc) must be

MOBILISED first.

 

> It's plausible that chlorella, by itself, is not an especially good Hg

> chelator, as Hg is one of the more difficult heavy metals to mobilize

> from tissues. But I would still guess that chlorella, like seaweeds,

> is a good agent for binding to Hg once it has reached the GI tract.

> Single herbs or substances, in general, do not work well for detoxing

> most heavy metals, they need to be combined for different functions.

 

IMO, while algae and lichens are very good heavy metal accumulators

( " sentinel plants " ) in vivo, I am unaware of (but have not looked for)

research that shows that dead (dried, powdered and reconstituted)

algae retain that capacity. Any references anyone?

 

> Regarding Cd, I have seen several scientific studies that chlorella is

> one of the best for removing Cd, but even in this case, the

> effectiveness of the chlorella will be greatly enhanced by using

> blood-invigorating herbs to mobilize the HMs from connective tissues. I

> had a case of verified, significant Cd toxicity - and the client

> insisted that the chlorella made a huge difference in the rate at which

> he got better, as he had tried other combinations without chlorella

> with much less dramatic results. Roger Wicke

 

For a most interesting paper on how the body handles Hg, AND the

difficulty of diagnosing Hg toxicity, see " Urine Mercury in

Micromercurialism: Bimodal Distribution and Diagnostic Implications " , by

Ely et al (Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. (1999) 63:553-559): The full

text is at http://tinyurl.com/53ps6

 

It concludes: " Note that our concern in this study was the common

failure to diagnose MM due to misinterpretation of urine Hg test results.

Hence, we did not measure the fecal and sweat routes of excretion.

Although these latter routes offer greater potential for detoxification,

their testing is complex, inaccurate, expensive, slow, difficult to interpret,

and they have no value in clinical diagnosis at first presentation as

considered here. We anticipate that x-ray fluorescence (xrf)

measurements of skeletal Hg at mid-tibia or skull temporal bone can

offer a quick simple check on detoxification progress of MM patients

with large skeletal burdens. Of course, xrf is only likely to become widely

available after large numbers of such patients are recognized (i.e., 80%

of the four million US Alzheimer patients who are estimated to have

amalgam Hg as a possible etiological factor (Pendergrass and Haley

1997)). Understanding retention toxicity and bone storage of Hg will

result in successful diagnosis of MM. This in turn will enable study of

MM and testing the validity of reported associations with serious

idiopathic disorders " .

 

Best regards,

 

 

Tel: (H): +353- or (M): +353-

WWW:

" Man who says it can't be done should not interrupt man doing it " -

Chinese Proverb

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Phil,

 

Almost all of my reference sources are Western - e.g., I've found Dr. Mercola's

commentaries and articles to be full of good advice - though he tends to puch

specific products, he seems to base many of his ideas on clinical experience

rather than on academic speculation, and I respect his work.

 

I've asked Dr. Cheung and others to search the TCM literature for ideas on herbs

and heavy metals, but so far, very little has been found, other than use of lu

dou (paste) for acute heavy metal poisoning and fang feng for arsenic.

 

There is a huge amount of western literature on the subject, both from a

practicing clinical perspective, and from biochemical and physiological

perspectives.

 

I read an article on the use of Chlorella for chelating cadmium, but last time I

checked the article had disappeared. Anyway, here is the reference (perhaps it

will reappear somewhere else):

 

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=204228 & amp;action=stream & a\

mp;blobtype=pdf

Chelating Properties of Extracellular Polysaccharides

from Chlorella spp.

 

Drora Kaplan, Danial Christiaen, and Shoshana Arad

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 1987 Dec, 53(12):2953-56

 

The Jacob Blaustein Desert Research Institute, Ben-Gurion

University of the Negev, Sede Boqer 84993,1 The

Institutes for Applied Research, Ben-Gurion University of

the Negev, Beer Sheva 84110,2 Israel, and Equipe

Polysaccharides Parietaux des Vegetaux, University of

Lille, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France3

 

 

Your comments regarding the difficulty of objectively assessing mercury toxicity

are important - I've long been frustrated by people demanding " proof " when, as

you point out, the existing methods of proof are difficult, unreliable, and

expensive. The Chinese for thousands of years made herbal progress by using

their eyes and ears and a little common sense. Why can't we do the same? The

lack of objective lab methods should not stop us from recognizing when mercury

toxicity is likely, based on a careful review of symptoms, signs, and

circumstantial evidence of environmental/dietary/occupational exposure.

 

Roger

 

 

> Wed, 23 Feb 2005 22:08:16 -0000

> " " <

>Cilantro, Seaweeds and Mercury

>

>Hi All, & Roger,

>

>Roger wrote:

>> All of my sources seem to agree that fresh cilantro is best for

>> **mobilizing** Hg from the connective tissues.

>

>What sources, Roger? Western or Oriental, or both?

>

>I did a Google search last night, entering the Hanzi characters for Herba

>Coriandri (Cilantro) - Yansui (aka Yansuiye; Xiangcai (Chinese Parsley);

>Husui; Yuansui; Xiangsui) and Semen/Fructus Coriandri - Yansuizi (aka

>Husuizi; Yuansuizi; Xiangsuizi; Yansuiguo.

>

>Though I found several Chinese sources, none of them mentioned

>expelling heavy metals, although they did mention the herb class as

>Release Surface~Acrid/Spicy~Warm ~Expel Wind + Expel Cold, and

>main actions as: (1) Clear Heat; Make Sweat; Release Surface+Erupt

>Papules/Rash; Expel Impurity; (2) Quicken SP+Harmonise SJM-SP-ST;

>Strengthen ST; Stomachic; Appetiser; Carminative; Spasmolytic;

>aromatic; (3) Boost Libido; Antioxidant/Antiageing.

>

>> Though (Cilantro) needs to be combined with seaweeds and other chelator

>> foods (such as seaweeds, chlorella, garlic, etc.) in order to prevent

>> reabsorption from the intestines, several people have reported to me

>> that they have had bad Hg detox reactions using only cilantro, but

>> when combined with seaweeds, things went smoothly.

>

>Routes of Hg excretion include the gut (bile/faeces), skin (sweat & hair),

>KI (urine), LU (breath) and mammary gland (milk). But to get to the

>excretory route, Hg stored in the tissues (bone, brain, etc) must be

>MOBILISED first.

>

>> It's plausible that chlorella, by itself, is not an especially good Hg

>> chelator, as Hg is one of the more difficult heavy metals to mobilize

>> from tissues. But I would still guess that chlorella, like seaweeds,

>> is a good agent for binding to Hg once it has reached the GI tract.

>> Single herbs or substances, in general, do not work well for detoxing

>> most heavy metals, they need to be combined for different functions.

>

>IMO, while algae and lichens are very good heavy metal accumulators

>( " sentinel plants " ) in vivo, I am unaware of (but have not looked for)

>research that shows that dead (dried, powdered and reconstituted)

>algae retain that capacity. Any references anyone?

>

>> Regarding Cd, I have seen several scientific studies that chlorella is

>> one of the best for removing Cd, but even in this case, the

>> effectiveness of the chlorella will be greatly enhanced by using

>> blood-invigorating herbs to mobilize the HMs from connective tissues. I

>> had a case of verified, significant Cd toxicity - and the client

>> insisted that the chlorella made a huge difference in the rate at which

>> he got better, as he had tried other combinations without chlorella

>> with much less dramatic results. Roger Wicke

>

>For a most interesting paper on how the body handles Hg, AND the

>difficulty of diagnosing Hg toxicity, see " Urine Mercury in

>Micromercurialism: Bimodal Distribution and Diagnostic Implications " , by

>Ely et al (Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. (1999) 63:553-559): The full

>text is at http://tinyurl.com/53ps6

>

>It concludes: " Note that our concern in this study was the common

>failure to diagnose MM due to misinterpretation of urine Hg test results.

>Hence, we did not measure the fecal and sweat routes of excretion.

>Although these latter routes offer greater potential for detoxification,

>their testing is complex, inaccurate, expensive, slow, difficult to interpret,

>and they have no value in clinical diagnosis at first presentation as

>considered here. We anticipate that x-ray fluorescence (xrf)

>measurements of skeletal Hg at mid-tibia or skull temporal bone can

>offer a quick simple check on detoxification progress of MM patients

>with large skeletal burdens. Of course, xrf is only likely to become widely

>available after large numbers of such patients are recognized (i.e., 80%

>of the four million US Alzheimer patients who are estimated to have

>amalgam Hg as a possible etiological factor (Pendergrass and Haley

>1997)). Understanding retention toxicity and bone storage of Hg will

>result in successful diagnosis of MM. This in turn will enable study of

>MM and testing the validity of reported associations with serious

>idiopathic disorders " .

>

>Best regards,

>

>

>Tel: (H): +353- or (M): +353-

>WWW:

> " Man who says it can't be done should not interrupt man doing it " -

>Chinese Proverb

>

>

 

 

 

---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist

contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/

Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA

Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org