Heavy Metals

Heavy Metals at Home: Fillings, Fish, Water, and Cookware

Where they get in, what we changed in our own house, and the order the body needs to clear them

I want to walk through the four places I see heavy metals get into people most often, because when a Total Tox Panel comes back with mercury or lead on it, the first question is always the same one, which is "where would I even have gotten that?" and the answer is usually sitting in the kitchen or in the mouth. I'll keep each section practical: what it is, what we did about it in our own house, and what I'd do first if it were you.

Why metals are different from every other toxin

Most of the chemicals we live with are gone from the body within a few days of stopping them. The parabens in lotion, the phthalates in anything scented, the BPA in canned food, your liver and kidneys clear those quickly once you stop adding more. Metals are the exception. Your body doesn't have a good exit for lead, mercury, or cadmium in any real quantity, so it does the next best thing and stores them somewhere they'll do the least immediate harm. Lead goes into bone, mercury settles into the brain and the kidneys, and cadmium stays in the kidneys. That's why a year of clean eating tells you almost nothing about your metals, and it's why I test instead of guess.

The other thing that makes metals different is what they do while they're parked. A metal sits down in a seat that was meant for a mineral. Mercury has a stronger pull toward selenium than almost anything else in the body, and selenium is what your deiodinase enzymes are built with, the enzymes that turn T4 into the T3 your cells actually use. Cadmium takes the seats meant for zinc. Lead takes the seats meant for calcium and iron. So a person can be eating well and taking a good mineral supplement and still be running low on the minerals that matter, because the chairs are already full. In a 2012 study of over two thousand American women, the ones with the highest blood mercury had about twice the odds of carrying thyroglobulin antibodies compared to the women with the lowest, which is one of the reasons I care about this so much for anyone with Hashimoto's.

Fillings

A silver filling is about half mercury by weight, and it gives off a little vapor every time you chew, grind your teeth, or drink something hot. In 2020 the FDA said that children under six, anyone pregnant, planning a pregnancy, or nursing, people with neurological problems or kidney dysfunction, and anyone sensitive to mercury or the other metals in amalgam should avoid getting new ones where possible.

The FDA also says a filling that's in good condition shouldn't be removed unless it's medically necessary, and I want to be fair to that, because drilling one out without precautions sends up a much bigger spike of mercury vapor than everyday chewing does. The removal itself is the decision that matters most. A dentist trained in the SMART protocol (the IAOMT's safe removal technique) uses a rubber dam, high-volume suction, a separate air supply for you to breathe, and cuts the filling out in chunks instead of grinding it into vapor. You can search for one at thesmartchoice.com. In my practice there are two rules I don't bend on: the fillings come out before we ever use anything that moves mercury, and nobody has fillings removed while pregnant or breastfeeding.

One small study is worth knowing about. In 2006 a group in the Czech Republic followed people with autoimmune thyroiditis who tested as mercury-sensitive, and the ones who had their amalgams removed saw both their TPO and thyroglobulin antibodies drop over six months while the others didn't change. It was a small group, so hold it loosely, but it matches what I see.

Fish

It isn't fish that carries the mercury, it's big fish that have spent years eating smaller fish, because mercury builds up as it moves up the food chain. The FDA and EPA publish a chart that sorts fish into best choices, good choices, and the ones to skip, and a serving is about four ounces. The small fish and wild salmon are also high in selenium, which is the mineral mercury ties up, so swapping from the skip column to the best column also gives back some of the selenium mercury was tying up. In our house it's wild salmon and sardines, and the big fish are a once-in-a-while thing at a restaurant, not something I buy. One detail people miss: canned light tuna is on the best list, and albacore (white) tuna is not, it's a once-a-week fish.

Water

Let's talk about lead first. The federal ban on lead pipes and lead solder came in 1986, so a house built before that may have lead in the solder joints, in older brass fixtures, or in a lead service line out at the street. Water that has sat in those pipes overnight is the worst of the day, which is why I run the cold tap for thirty seconds before I fill the kettle, and I never cook with hot tap water, because hot water pulls more metal out of pipes. If you want to know for sure, some water utilities will test a sample for free or close to it, and a certified lab can do it for a small fee.

Arsenic and uranium are the well water ones. The EPA regulates public water, not private wells, so if you're on a well, nobody is testing it but you, and neither one has a taste. Test once a year for arsenic, nitrates, and bacteria, and if you live in granite country like we do along the Front Range, add uranium to the list. For a filter, look for one certified to NSF/ANSI 53 for lead, or use reverse osmosis, which handles lead, arsenic, fluoride, and perchlorate (the one that competes with iodine at your thyroid). We use the AquaTru for drinking and cooking water and add minerals back, because reverse osmosis takes the good minerals out along with the bad. A carbon pitcher mostly handles taste and chlorine, which is fine for what it is, but it isn't the same thing.

Cookware, and a few things in the pantry

The cookware ones are aluminum pots and foil with acidic foods like tomato sauce (aluminum leaches into acid), old or imported glazed pottery and bright ceramics (lead in the glaze, which is why the FDA warns about traditional and decorative dishes brought back from travel), lead crystal, and scratched nonstick, which is a chemical problem rather than a metal one. We cook in cast iron, stainless, glass, and enamel.

The pantry ones surprise people more, so here they are in a list.

1. Rice. Rice grows in flooded fields and pulls arsenic out of the soil and water more than any other grain, and brown rice has about double the arsenic of white because it concentrates in the bran. Cooking rice like pasta, in six to ten parts water and then draining it, removes 40 to 60 percent of the inorganic arsenic according to the FDA's own testing, and rinsing does very little. Rice milk, rice cereal, rice cakes, and rice crackers count too, which matters most for little kids.

2. Dark chocolate. In 2022 Consumer Reports tested 28 dark chocolate bars and found that one ounce of 23 of them went over California's daily limit for lead or cadmium. The cadmium comes up from the soil through the cacao tree, and the lead settles on the beans while they dry on the ground, so it varies by origin and by brand. I still eat dark chocolate; I just don't eat it every day, and I don't give it to little ones every day.

3. Protein powder. A 2025 report from the Clean Label Project found that nearly 80 percent of the plant-based powders they tested went over California's lead limit, that chocolate-flavored powders had up to 110 times the cadmium of vanilla, and that organic powders had about three times the lead of conventional, because the problem is the soil, not the pesticides. If you use one, I'd pick whey or collagen over plant-based, vanilla or plain over chocolate, and a company that publishes third-party heavy metal results for every lot.

4. Spices. Turmeric in particular has been found adulterated with lead chromate to brighten the color, and lead has turned up in other imported spices too. Buy from a company that tests, and be a little suspicious of very bright, very cheap turmeric.

5. Kohl, surma, and kajal eyeliner. The FDA warns these traditional eye cosmetics may contain high levels of lead. They aren't legally sold in the U.S., but they come in through markets and travel.

6. Cigarette smoke. Cadmium, and it counts if you smoked years ago or live with someone who does, because the kidneys hold onto it for decades.

How Heavy Metals Can Affect Your Cells

Let's talk about something I emphasize with my clients all the time:

Your health depends on the health of your cells.

Your body contains trillions of cells, each performing incredibly important jobs. Your cells help produce energy, communicate with hormones, transport nutrients, maintain tissues, and regulate countless processes that keep you functioning.

Certain toxic metals can interfere with these functions.

1. Heavy Metals Can Increase Oxidative Stress

• Oxidative stress occurs when the production of reactive molecules exceeds the body's ability to manage them.

• Excessive exposure to certain metals can contribute to oxidative stress, potentially damaging proteins, lipids, and DNA.

• This is one reason toxic metal exposure can affect multiple organs and systems.

2. Heavy Metals Can Disrupt Mitochondrial Function

• Your mitochondria are responsible for producing much of the energy your cells need.

• Certain metals can interfere with mitochondrial enzymes and energy production.

• When cellular energy production is disrupted, normal tissue function can suffer.

• It's important to remember that fatigue alone doesn't establish mitochondrial damage or heavy metal toxicity. Many other conditions can cause low energy.

3. Heavy Metals Can Interfere With Enzymes and Nutrients

• Some toxic metals bind to proteins or interfere with enzymes involved in normal cellular processes.

• Lead, for example, can disrupt heme synthesis, an important process involved in producing hemoglobin.

• Nutritional status can also influence metal absorption. Iron deficiency, for instance, may increase lead absorption in some circumstances.

• This is one reason nutritional support is worth considering alongside exposure reduction.

4. Heavy Metals Can Affect the Nervous System

• Some metals can damage nerves or interfere with neurological function at sufficiently high exposure levels.

• Depending on the metal and exposure, symptoms may include difficulty concentrating, tremors, numbness, weakness, or changes in coordination.

What Symptoms Could Be Associated With Heavy Metal Exposure?

Symptoms vary considerably depending on the metal involved, how much exposure has occurred, and how long it has been happening.

Possible effects of clinically significant exposure include:

• Fatigue or weakness

• Memory or concentration difficulties

• Numbness or tingling

• Abdominal pain or digestive symptoms

• Headaches

• Kidney dysfunction

• Anemia

• Tremors or coordination problems

Many of these symptoms overlap with thyroid disorders, nutritional deficiencies, blood sugar problems, medication effects, sleep disorders, and other medical conditions.

That's why I believe in investigating potential underlying causes rather than guessing or throwing another supplement at the problem.

How do you know what's in you?

The test I use is the Total Tox Panel from Vibrant Wellness, which is one at-home urine collection that covers 20 heavy metals, 29 mold toxins, and 38 everyday chemicals. It's an unprovoked test, which means it shows what's coming in now and what's coming out now, so a high number means you're being exposed or you're actively releasing, and a low number with a mouthful of silver fillings doesn't mean you're clear, it means it's still parked. That's why I always read the lab next to your history. Collect first thing in the morning, and skip fish and seaweed for three days before, because the arsenic in seafood is a harmless form that will spike the test and send you chasing something that isn't there. https://guennamullet.com/product-details/product/696f97ae43d8a04e88b09853

How the body gets metals out

Your body clears metals three ways. The liver packages them into bile and sends them into the gut to leave in the stool, the kidneys filter them into urine, and you sweat some out. Glutathione does most of the escorting, and your body builds it from sulfur amino acids (eggs, meat, onions, garlic, the cruciferous vegetables) with selenium, magnesium, and B vitamins as the helpers. The problem is that the people with the most stored metals are usually the people with the least working glutathione and the slowest bowels, so if you take something that pulls mercury out of storage before the exits are open, it doesn't leave, it moves. Moved mercury is how people end up with a month of brain fog, anxiety, and exhaustion and decide detox doesn't work for them.

So the order I use is the same every time. First we open the exits: bowels moving every day, enough water, minerals, support for the liver and kidneys, and if there's mold in the house, that gets dealt with first too, because you can't clear a body that's still being filled. Then we bind what's already in the gut with a true binder so it can't be reabsorbed on the way out. Only then do we go after what's stored, slowly, with the binder still on board. That's what the Prep, Body, and Brain phases of my program are in plain words. If you've ever gotten sicker on a detox, I wrote about why that happens here: Why Detox Makes Symptoms Worse. https://guennamullet.com/post/why-detox-makes-symptoms-worse

Every source on this page is something you can change, and most of them don't cost a thing. God designed your body to heal! Our job is to remove the interferences and give it what it needs.

Guenna

This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Nothing here is dental or medical advice. Decisions about fillings, water testing, supplements, and any detoxification protocol belong with you, your dentist, and your healthcare provider, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or take medication. Some product links are affiliate links, and I may earn a commission on purchases made through them at no additional cost to you.

Sources

Gallagher CM, Meliker JR. Mercury and thyroid autoantibodies in U.S. women, NHANES 2007–2008. Environment International, 2012. · Sterzl I, et al. Removal of dental amalgam decreases anti-TPO and anti-Tg autoantibodies in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 2006. · U.S. FDA. Recommendations About the Use of Dental Amalgam in Certain High-Risk Populations, September 2020. · IAOMT. Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART), thesmartchoice.com. · U.S. FDA and EPA. Advice About Eating Fish, 2021. · U.S. FDA. Arsenic in Rice and Rice Products: cooking rice in excess water (six to ten parts water to one part rice) and draining reduces inorganic arsenic by 40 to 60 percent. · Consumer Reports. Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate, December 2022. · Clean Label Project. Protein Powder Category Report, January 2025. · Forsyth JE, et al. Turmeric means "yellow" in Bengali: lead chromate pigments added to turmeric threaten public health across Bangladesh. Environmental Research, 2019. · U.S. FDA. Kohl, Kajal, Al-Kahal, Surma, Tiro, Tozali, or Kwalli: By Any Name, Beware of Lead Poisoning. · ATSDR Toxicological Profiles for Lead, Mercury, and Cadmium. · U.S. EPA. Lead and Copper Rule; Private Drinking Water Wells.

Cellular Health, LLC · Guenna Mullet, CNHP · www.guennamullet.com