Director, Emergency Services, Bikur Cholim Hospital
What about heavy metals in herbal medicines? I have spoken on
the subject of herbal medicines in the past. For one thing,
being natural is no guarantee of safety. After all, poison
ivy is a natural product, as well. Chinese medicines are
especially problematic, but all herbal preparations are not
well controlled and may have impurities. Don't take
chances.
Heavy metals are very dangerous and it is a hard diagnosis if
they are causing problems. They can give all sorts of weird
neurological symptoms.
What are heavy metals? Mostly familiar metals. Iron for
example in usual dosages is an important component of
building red blood cells, with the only side effect being
constipation. However, chronic high dosages can cause liver
failure, and an acute overdose is treacherous — usually
with a period of normalcy before disaster sets in.
As vitamins often look like candy to children, be careful.
Copper, zinc, molybdenum, chromium are all metals that are
needed in trace amounts by the body. Eating nuts will give
you plenty. Chromium is very dangerous in overdose. Lead is a
bad problem. Pencils do not contain lead, and it is hard to
find any gasoline with lead in it anymore, but some older
buildings still have lead-based paints or lead pipes that
corrode. I think this is probably only a problem in England.
In Israel most pipes are plastic PVC.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.
It can still be found in thermometers, but is being phased
out. Eating the mercury from a thermometer is harmless, but
industrial mercury compounds are dangerous.
Gold is often used for arthritis and can be harmful to the
kidneys. Close follow-up is necessary. Silver is usually
mixed with a mercury amalgam for tooth fillings. There were
some fears about the mercury causing havoc through the
release of fumes. I haven't seen real evidence and I believe
the mercury is too well bound to the silver to cause this
problem.
I have been asked about olive oil. Mono-saturated fats, such
as in olive oil, are supposedly very helpful and may reduce
risk of heart disease. One of these oils is the omega group
found in fish and fish is very healthy. Olive is in this
group, as well as many of the nut oils. Just remember that
any oil in excess is more calories, and more fat. If you want
the benefit of these oils, use them as dressings and not for
frying.
Around Pesach time many unusual oils are in use. Cottonseed
oil is not very healthy and very difficult to digest. Palm
oil is very saturated, very unhealthy and very hard to
digest. Coconut is about the same. The best oil for digestion
problems is canola, but that is kitniyos. Write me in
care of the Yated.
A message from GlaxoSmithKline, sponsor of this
column. More and more medical journals are praising
Zofran, the anti- vomiting medicine. This medicine is so safe
that pregnant ladies can take it, as well as children. Other
medications are cheaper, but they have more side effects,
including drowsiness and shaking. Zofran is free of these
effects.
