gethealthy

You may have heard all the commotion about mercury poisoning.  For instance, when was the last time you saw a mercury thermometer? Also, we’ve been warned about eating too much fish and seafood for fear of mercury poisoning.  However, did you ever think that you would have to watch your nutritional supplements for this dangerously toxic metal?

Recently online retailers have been scaling back on their stock of Indian Ayurvedic medicines.  These supplements are meant to establish and maintain a healthy balance between the body and mind.  Ayurveda, “wisdom for living”, is a long standing ancient tradition in Indian culture dating back as far as 5,000 years.  They emphasize using spirituality as a base for healing the body from the inside out.  Ayruveda is mainly used in India, Sri Lanka,  and Nepal, however, use of these ancient techniques is now being used throughout the planet.

Like traditional western medicine, Ayurveda is practiced with subsets that specify particular functions of the mind and body.   There are two types of Ayruveda that is used, one primarily uses herbs to “naturally” cure the body.  The other type of Ayruveda also incorporates the use of gems, minerals, and metals and is known as rasa shastra.

However, between August -October 2005, Boston University School of Medicine randomly purchased 193 supplements online, using 5 different search engines, 60% of the purchases were from American companies and the rest were from Indian sellers.

There aim was to test the toxicity levels for lead, mercury, and arsenic.  According to the study 20% of the supplements tested contained high levels of toxins.  They noted that the metals discovered may have been there due to the practice of rasa shastra.  The herbs that were meant to be used for rasa shastra were more likely to contain lead and mercury than those specifically for “pure” herbal healing.

Many of the supplements tested that contained toxic metals contained levels that could result in toxicity or even death.