Boucher students once again had the fortune of having Dr. Pizzorno to speak to us at BINM. His focus this time was on the clinical effects of mercury exposure, current mercury level assessment methods and treatment options available based on the data his team collected on 1,500 oil field workers in Alberta, Canada.
 
Mercury of clinical interest is in the brain except when exposure is at high levels and acute. There are many ways to assess of mercury load and they are hair, nails, saliva, spinal fluid, serum, whole blood, red blood count (RBC), urine, urine challenge and stool tests. Unfortunately, there are no gold standard tests that are reliable or sensitive measures of brain mercury. The best measure of mercury from fish is whole blood/plasma methyl mercury/hair (only excretes organic) and the best measure of mercury from amalgams is whole blood/plasma inorganic mercury and urinary inorganic mercury.
 
After compiling the majority of the studies on mercury exposure, Dr. Pizzorno found that the most common symptoms of mercury overload are depression (73%), memory loss (70%), anxiety (69%), unintentionally dropping things (60%), headache (56%) and so on and so forth. 
 
What do you do when you suspect significant mercury burden? Dr. Pizzorno’s protocol is firstly to decrease the mercury in the blood so the gradient for leaving the brain is less steep. Secondly, stimulate the brain to excrete mercury more rapidly. Lastly, use agents that cross the blood-brain barrier (without carrying mercury with them), bind to mercury in the brain, cross back out of the brain, and are then excreted in the urine or stools.
 
In response to his findings in the 1,500 oil field workers, Dr. Pizzorno has formulated two very exciting new products for Bioclinic Naturals to help facilitate the removal of mercury in our body and they are Clear-HM™ and BioFoundation-G™.
 
Clear-HM is an advanced heavy metal detoxification support, supplying nutrients which increase glutathione levels, assist in heavy metal removal, improve antioxidant status and protect against cellular and hepatic damage. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and alpha-lipoic acid both increase cellular levels of glutathione, which binds to mercury and reactive oxygen species and participates in the detoxification of many xenobiotics via conjugation reactions.
 
BioFoundation-G is a broad spectrum and highly bioavailable multivitamin and mineral. This complete multi contains clinical doses of nutrients such as N-acetyl cysteine and R-alpha-lipoic acid, well established to increase cellular levels of glutathione, the most prevalent intercellular antioxidant.
 
Finally, to prevent the enterohepatic recirculation of mercury from occurring, one should look at increasing dietary fiber and decreasing mercury recirculation by limiting intake of high-mercury fish and shellfish as well as removing and avoiding amalgams in dental work.  
  
References
Dr. Pizzorno. “Mercury burden in Canada: Assessment and Intervention for Oil Field Workers.” Lecture Notes.
 
Pizzorno, J. “The Path Ahead. Is Mercury Toxicity an Epidemic? (Part II)”. IMCJ. Apr/May 2009 Vol. 8: 2. p8-12