All information in this article is for
educational purposes only.It is
not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health
condition.

Cadmium
is among the most toxic of the heavy metals.It is a common metal found in cigarette smoke, tap water,
coffee, some processed and refined foods such as hydrogenated oils, and in foods
from the sea, especially shellfish of all kinds.It is found in marijuana, and in cigarette papers.

Toxicity. Cadmium is extremely toxic, with
acceptable levels one tenth that of most of the other toxic metals.Its effects are many, but it mainly
affects the kidneys, the cardiovascular system, and is related to cancer.It also ages the skin.

Cadmium
also contributes to many mental illnesses, particularly violence and other
related disorders of behavior and mental attitude.Cadmium is so toxic to the brain that it causes what might
be called ‘a small rebellion’ in the tissues of the brain, which results in
violent thoughts.One notices this
as one removes cadmium, that violent thoughts and even one’s violent impulses
diminish.Dr. Paul Eck was the
first person to teach me this, as he noticed it in himself while taking certain
nutritional supplements.

A powerful
crutch for the kidneys and adrenal glands.Cadmium also powerfully irritates and in this way boosts
adrenal activity, although it does this in a rather violent way, not a
healthful manner.

At a
philosophical level, cadmium represents physical life on earth.This means that it keeps us grounded
physically in this life.As one’s
health improves, we eliminate more and more of this cadmium until, after a
time, a strong healing reaction occurs called the agony.It is the final or close to final elimination of cadmium
from the physical body.This agony
is a rash that affects the face and parts of the neck in some people.It itches and burns until the cadmium
is gone.When this happens, the
person finds himself or herself much more positive, happy and at home in the
world.This is how eliminating this
form of cadmium affects us.As the
rash proceeds, the face becomes rather radiant and clean-looking, compared to
its former state.All manner of
blemishes, warts, moles, scars and other disfigurements vanish at this time.

In
fact, if a person eliminates enough cadmium at any time, one can experience
this type of rash or reaction, though it usually does not last long.Cadmium has an affinity for the face
because the face is where we join with others in the world to live our
lives.As our world changes, so
must the face.

CADMIUM TOXICITY SYMPTOMS

Degenerative
Diseases.Cadmium is involved
in all of the major diseases of our time, including cancer, diabetes, arthritic
syndromes, heart disease, kidney disease, and others.One reason may be that cadmium replaces zinc in the body.Zinc is required for over 100 or more
critical enzymes.These include
enzymes needed for proper immune system activity, digestion, cardiovascular
health, and much more.

Mental
illnesses.Cadmium is closely
associated with many developmental, behavioral and mental disorders.These include but are not limited to
violence, anti-social behavior, risk-taking behaviors, and ADHD in children and
in adults.

Birth
defects and developmental disorders.Birth defects often are related to
cadmium, when it replaces zinc and other metals in vital genetic functions and in
the DNA and RNA of the body.This
causes defective
genetic expression, which is not the same as defective genes.

Aging.Cadmium hardens and toughens the
tissues, and ages the body.It is
associated with hardening of the arteries, hardening and destruction of the
kidneys, and of all the organs, in fact.This hardening can actually feel good, as though one is getting stronger
and tougher, which is true, but it does so in a manner that actually weakens
the entire body and opens it up to more cancers, and particularly heart
disease.

Sexuality.Cadmium toxicity is associated with low
sperm counts, impotence in men, reduced fertility in women, and increased
interest in sex in women.

Smoker’s
cough.Cadmium
buildup may help account for the common smoker’s cough.This is a non-productive, hacking
cough.Cadmium is irritating to
the delicate mucous membranes of the body.

SOURCES OF CADMIUM

Hydrogenated or
hardened vegetable oils.Cadmium is used as a catalyst to harden or hydrogenate vegetable oils to
make products such as margarine, commercial peanut butter, vegetable shortening
and related items.Every time you
eat these products, you will get a little more cadmium that is a residue from
this type of food processing.

An
industrial contaminant. Cadmium is widely used in industry as a plating material, in
galvanizing, the semiconductor industry, inks, dyes and many other
applications.It is a very hard,
tough metal and it actually hardens and toughens the body and even the
personality to some degree.This
is why Dr. Eck sometimes called it the pseudo-masculine element.

Brake
linings.Cadmium is still used in millions of brake linings of automobiles,
buses, trains and airplanes.This cadmium
wears off the brake lining and spews into the air, adding millions of pounds of
cadmium compounds to our environment each year.Other materials could be used, but cadmium works well, so it
is still used in most vehicles.

Water
contamination.Cadmium also finds its ways into water supplies and especially into
irrigation water and sewage sludge.From there it gets into the food and into drinking water supplies all
over the world today.

CigarettePapers.Cadmium may be added to cigarette
papers and those used to roll joints for smoking marijuana because, as I
understand it, cadmium may keep the paper from going out once it is lit.A small amount of cadmium may also be
added to some papers to make them stiffer or for other reasons.

Congenital cadmium.
Cadmium passes easily through
the placenta in utero and enters developing
fetuses.This is why many children
are born with behavioral or developmental disorders today.Cadmium is thus transmitted from
generation to generation

Shellfish and
most fish.Cadmium is found in
most foods today, especially shellfish from coastal waters.These foods should be avoided by
everyone on planet earth.It is
unfortunate that many people are virtually forced to live on these foods if
they are in poor nations and live by the sea.They are highly contaminated with industrial pollutants, one
of which is cadmium.Others
include mercury, of course, arsenic, and lead.

Junk or refined
foods.Cadmium is also found
in many other foods.These
include, but are not limited to junk or refined foods of all kinds.The causes of the cadmium problems are:

1. Modern hybrid
and genetically modified foods such as wheat and soy products, in particular,
are already low in zinc, chromium and selenium today.This allows the absorption and uptake of more cadmium by
thousands of enzymes.

2.
Refining of flour and sugar then removes much more of the zinc, selenium,
magnesium and chromium.This is done for many reasons, including commercial exploitation of
these valuable trace minerals, now in high demand in China and elsewhere.These minerals, however, especially
zinc, reduce the absorption of cadmium in our bodies.They also compete with cadmium for enzyme binding sites in
the body, thereby protecting a person from cadmium toxicity to some
extent.

When
zinc, chromium and other minerals are removed from food, much more cadmium is
absorbed.Eating foods that are
low in zinc and chromium, such as vegetarian diets, and fruit, in particular,
may worsen cadmium toxicity.Eating meat, for this reason, is protective against cadmium because of
its higher content of zinc and other trace minerals such as selenium.

4.
Wrapping papers and plastics used in packaging refined foods may add a little
cadmium.

5.
Other. Cadmium may be used in other aspects of food
processing, such as plating on equipment or inks, dyes and lubricants used on
and around food processing equipment.

Coffee and tea,
especially strong coffees.These beverages are the major sources of cadmium for many people around
the world who do not live by the sea or eat a lot of fish and seafood.The coffee and other beans, or leaves
of tea contain some, and the water they are made with contains more.This is why these are not as healthful
products as they once were, before the planet became polluted with cadmium.

For this reason, cultures that use strong beverages such as these are
not doing well in many cases.This
includes parts of Europe where cappuccinos and lattes are popular, and the
Middle East, where strong coffee and even strong tea is the norm.These foster violence among the people,
as we see today.

Other Foods.Cadmium has contaminated most water
supplies in the United States and other industrialized nations.Its presence is very subtle and may not
even be detected unless the instruments are quite sensitive.

Combined
with low zinc in the soil and extensive refining of flour, in particular,
excessive cadmium has contributed to the epidemic of heart disease, cancer and
diabetes that now dominate the spectrum of illnesses in the Western world.

Zinc
Deficiency.This is a common
cause for cadmium problems.Zinc
is extremely protective against cadmium absorption in the intestines and
protective against the incorporation of cadmium into many enzymes in the body.

This
is an important reason why zinc is recommended for everyone on their
nutritional balancing programs.Many doctors fail to realize the great need for zinc today - for many,
many reasons.All nutrition
programs and regimens of diet should contain extra zinc for this reason alone,
not to mention a half dozen others.

Zinc deficiency
may be due to over a hundred factors. Among the most important ones are diets
of refined foods, congenital low zinc (born low in zinc), vegetarian diets, and
most of all stress from any source.Others are eating zinc-deficient food, which includes most of it.Organic food is best but is no
guarantee.Vegetarian and
fruitarian types of diets are particularly low in zinc.

Other
reasons for zinc deficiency are foods that deplete zinc.This includes all sugars, including
fruits and juices. This is a reason we do not recommend much juice.

Zinc-depleting
habits such as drinking alcohol, drug use, especially marijuana, the use of any
stimulant such as caffeine, and anything that sets off a fight-or-flight
response in the body such as anger, rage or fear will deplete zinc.

Since
meat is one of the best sources of bioavailable zinc,
vegetarians have a real problem with zinc unless they supplement their diets
with pumpkin seeds or zinc tablets each and every day.Even then, the amount of seeds needed
is greater than most people could possibly eat, and the zinc they contain may
not be as biologically available as eating a little meat.Today’s pumpkins are deficient due to
soils depleted of zinc, so they are not as good a source in many cases as they
were 100 years ago, for example.This is why vegetarian diets often seem to lead to a shorter lifespan
and are always dangerous, even if they have many other possible benefits.For more on this topic, read Vegetarian Diets and The China Study – A Book Review.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CADMIUM

Cadmium is
associated with toughness, hardness, and a need for control. This is
actually how the metal feels and acts in nature.However, is a brittle hardness, and a very toxic hardness. It is a somewhat
false strength at one level, and in fact, people with higher cadmium are
terribly afraid of zinc strength, which is not as forthcoming, obvious or
macho.

Hardness
and toughness are considered masculine qualities, and Dr. Eck classified
cadmium as a “male mineral”.This
is a very important quality of minerals that has to do with their effects upon
hormones, psychology and physiology.However, since cadmium is brittle and replaces zinc, a gentle male
mineral, cadmium often is associated with violence and is considered in
nutritional balancing an older and lower quality male mineral, meaning not a
very spiritual male mineral.

Dr.
Eck called it the pseudo-masculine mineral because it is not really a strong, secure
male mineral, as are zinc and selenium.Dr. Eck also called it the macho mineral, meaning it confers or offers
one the appearance of a strong male presence but really it is weak and
vulnerable underneath.It is
associated with cancer, a stealth disease that can be ravaging the body, but
the person can walk around as if all is well, even up until near the end of
life.

I
sometimes think of cadmium toxicity as living on stilts - an artificial lift for your sodium and
adrenal glands, but one that is very shaky, weak and not very safe.

Because cadmium
drives copper back into the tissues, many sensitive, emotional people smoke to
calm their emotions.The emotional
quality of high copper is replaced by an apparent toughness and strength.

However,
it is a second-rate compensation that does not build real strength.In fact, it weakens the body
significantly and leads to far worse problems later.However, this is an important consideration, because it can
help one to understand the attraction of cigarettes, coffee, alcohol and many
other common addictions.

Those
who have smoked for a while may be so used to the feeling cadmium provides that
they feel weak, vulnerable, and emotional without it.The same is true to a degree in coffee drinkers who also
need their cadmium fix, in addition to the caffeine, another adrenal stimulant.

Cadmium removal
symptoms for this reason.When
one reverses the decline in health with a nutritional balancing program, one
may experience temporary feelings of great weakness and fatigue
temporarily.Fortunately, if one
stays on a corrective program, the feelings will pass.I liken it to having lived on stilts.When the stilts are removed one can
feel ‘low’ for a time, but also more grounded and more steady.

If
the feelings are intense, eating more meat, taking more B-complex vitamins,
taking a little more vitamin C, and perhaps taking more adrenal glandular
substance or thyroid glandular substance can often support a person through
this particular healing reaction very easily and simply.Rubbing the feet to balance the
meridian energies in the body may also help greatly to relieve the symptoms of
cadmium removal.

OLD CODGERS, A MAINLY MALE CADMIUM PERSONALITY TYPE

The term
“old codgers” is not meant in any derogatory way, but is used to describe a
body type and personality type that is common.Their bodies are somewhat “crusty” and they often look and
talk tough.Many of them smoke
cigarettes, or used to smoke.Many
were in the military or served in the police departments, and they are
comfortable around firearms.

They
are mainly good, common sense, Christian, more politically conservative and
down to earth, reliable, survivor types.They may not be brilliant, and may not have the best diction and
manners, but they have horse sense, meaning they have a keen intellect and can
tell when someone is not telling the truth.They are mainly no-nonsense types of people in this regard.

Fast oxidizers.Their higher levels of cadmium
cause them to be fast oxidizers in many cases.Most, however, do not eat well and so they have a low
sodium/potassium ratio, especially as they age.The bodies are lower in copper, calcium, and magnesium.This make them a little more stern and
appearing “cold-hearted” or “hard-hearted”.In fact, they are prone to heart disease and high blood
pressure, two effects of cadmium excess.They are also prone to some types of cancer, such as lung cancer, often
from smoking cigarettes.

More
yang.Cadmium is
also associated with a more yang body and personality type – harder, and
warmer.These people are found
more on farms and in the middle of the United States, not the coasts, which are
more yin areas of the country.Many are ranchers, farmers, and some are laborers, and professionals
such as tough-minded businessmen and tradesmen.

Food and diet.Unfortunately, they often eat
incorrectly for fast oxidizers.They often love their bread and sweets, and do not eat a lot of cooked
vegetables, which they regard as rabbit food.They prefer a steak, a baked potato with butter or sour
cream, and maybe some ice cream or pie for dessert.

This is not
all bad for a fast oxidizer, but when they overeat on carbohydrates, which is
common, they develop a ‘belly’, and often end up with metabolic syndrome and
diabetes, along with heart disease and perhaps cancer.

They
cost the medical systems around the world trillions of dollars, but they could
be helped with nutritional balancing science if they will change their diet to
one of mainly cooked vegetables, no bread or potatoes, and less meat.

Most
die of heart attacks, aneurysms, or kidney failure, also related to cadmium
buildup in the kidneys and elsewhere.

Aura problems.Cadmium affects the second energy
center severely.It skews it so it
appears deranged to those who can see it.Men and women with excess cadmium tend to be somewhat macho in
appearance and in their attitudes about sex, for instance.However, they are not necessarily more
sexual, but like to talk about it.

In the area
of the first energy center, they are often ‘plugged’, which means the first
energy center looks somewhat flattened.However, it is quite large and healthy-looking, too.This means these individuals are often
a little more grounded and centered.

Contrast
to the copper types.The “old
codgers” differ markedly from many of the younger generation who may be
described as yeasty, spacy, ungrounded, or even
mush-headed, copper types of personality.This is a sort of polar opposite of the “old codger” personality type, and
copper is an antagonistic mineral to cadmium, to some degree.

Both are
quite toxic in excess, but in these differing ways.While cadmium hardens the body and personality, and
decreases emotions, copper softens the person too much.This leads to anxiety, spacey or floaty feelings, schizoid and unclear thinking, excessive
emotionalism and sentimentality.

Many
copper personality types, in fact, are very young looking for their age, though
they do not live too long because excess copper is also horrendous for one’s
health.The copper types tend to
be slow oxidizers, and tend to prefer vegetarian-types of diets such as eating
only fish and chicken, for example, and no red meat at all, which they have
trouble digesting and which feels heavy in their stomachs.See the article Copper Toxicity Syndrome for more on
copper.

TOUGH YOUNG BUSINESS WOMEN, A FEMALE CADMIUM PERSONALITY TYPE

Cadmium
can be important for women, particularly those who want to live and work and
compete in the business world or in other areas dominated by men.

Cadmium can offer women a certain
toughness and hardness that opposes their coppery nature and allows them to function
in so-called “male-dominated” power structures, corporations, government
positions, and others.This is an
interesting use of cadmium.Some
of these women smoke cigarettes to toughen themselves, or they smoke pot, or
they drink coffee, or they do other things to accumulate cadmium, which is not
hard to do.

While
mild cadmium toxicity in women is not too bad, if it is extreme it causes the
following personality traits:

- A definite hardness and toughness of
the personality and even one’s face and mannerisms. They may look older than
their age.

- Cadmium hides their copper nature,
which is their feminine side.They
need more zinc and copper, at times, to achieve a better personality balance.

- Increased sexual drive in many
cases.Sex, for them, is a
substitute for real love, which is hard for them because cadmium separates them
from their Creator and from their femininity in some way.As a result, they feel unloved, even if
they are with a good husband, in some cases.Sex is not used for experimentation or pure pleasure, as
much as it is a substitute for love.

- A rather negative view of men, to
the point that some are real man-haters, though they may enjoy sex for their
pleasure.Men can be viewed as sex
objects to be used by them.Some
have a “burned” quality about them.This can happen after a rape, for instance.Male sexual fluid contains some cadmium.

- Some are “cowgirls” that like to
dress tough and sexy, while others are more subtle and thrive in the business
world.Some are bossy and
overbearing, often pushing around their husbands and ruling over the family.

- Their toughness can be a thin veneer
and underneath is a brittle quality to their personality.This means that under enough stress,
they can fall apart.

- Some become rather psychotic,
violent, and lacking in humanity.They often are not interested in children, and can abuse their children
easily, as they are lacking in deeper compassion and understanding.

Modern
women’s problems. Cadmium is associated with cancer, diabetes, heart disease,
depression, adrenal burnout, kidney disease, lung cancer and other serious
ailments.These used to be less
prevalent in women, but not any more.Even worse, cadmium is associated with birth defects, ADD, and other
serious problems of childhood.This, too, is the lot of so many children born to high-cadmium mothers
today, and is truly sad to observe.

Also, cadmium is ungrounded, weak underneath, and really quite ill, no
matter how ‘macho’ and strong it makes on feel.Many women feel this and, of course, have little idea what
is going on inside their bodies ravaged by copper and cadmium.

Vampirism.Some cadmiumpersonality
types, especially women, are energy vampires.They tend to be fast oxidizers.Read more about this in the article entitled Energy Vampirism.

CADMIUM AND FOODS

Grains and
meats tend to be lower in cadmium, and are for this reason more
spiritually-oriented foods.Fruit
can be higher in cadmium, as it can balance the sugar in the fruit.We find it is not as good a food
today.The cadmium may contribute
to the Beam Me Up, Scottie hair analysis
pattern that can occur in those who eat a lot of fruit.Genetically modified foods may contain
more cadmium.

CADMIUM AND HAIR ANALYSIS

Cadmium
does not accumulate greatly in the hair, but rather in tissues such as the
bones, kidneys and the brain.Thus, an acceptable amount of cadmium on a hair tissue mineral analysis
that is not washed at the laboratory is about 0.01 mg% or 0.1 parts per million
or ug/gm.A lower reading is even better, down to about 0.005 mg%.This is very low, but anything higher
than this usually indicates excessive cadmium in the body.

The most common “poor eliminator”
pattern.When one is a poor
eliminator of toxic metals, a common condition today associated with adrenal
exhaustion, sympathetic dominance, a low sodium/potassium ratio, or impaired
eliminative organs, one’s vital energy level is low and the body cannot
eliminate cadmium very well.The
result is often an extremely low hair cadmium level such as 0.001 to about
0.004 mg% or about 0.01-0.04 parts per million.This we call a poor eliminator pattern.

It
turns out that such an extremely low reading on a hair analysis is a reliable
indicator that a person has more of the metal inside the body.What is
occurring is the body cannot eliminate cadmium well, so it is building up
inside the body.I sometimes call
this a tell-tale indicator, because it is a bit subtle to think that a very low
hair toxic metal reading indicates the presence of more of that toxic metal
inside the body.For more on this
very interesting topic, read Poor Eliminator
Pattern.

Most
people have some cadmium in excess in the body.I would never use a hair analysis or
any test such as a urine challenge test or blood test to dismiss or confirm
cadmium toxicity.Cadmium can be
locked away in the brain or the kidneys or elsewhere, and even giving a
powerful chelating drug for a challenge test may not cause the dislodging or
removal of very much of it.But it
is often still there, and will come out during a nutritional balancing program.

When
it comes out, the hair cadmium rises, and the person may feel tired, moody,
coppery and emotional, and sometimes very uneasy and vulnerable for a few days,
usually.It usually passes
quickly, however, as the body rebalances itself with a nutritional balancing
program.In fact, nutritional
balancing allows us to remove cadmium far more deeply than can any chelator I know of.

I
think of the feeling of cadmium removal as having someone “pull out your
electrical plug” on your television or other vital electronic device.It may feel awful – just for a
day or perhaps even less, while the body rebalances itself.

I
am told there is a reality to this “pulling the plug” feeling that occurs in
the subtle human body or aura.That is all I know about it at this time.It has to do with the first energy center of the body, which
is associated with the adrenal glands and survival in the world.This is much more common and important
with women, it seems, who, as explained above, use cadmium to “live in a man’s
world” today more than ever before.

Another
symptom of cadmium elimination that is rather annoying can be a reddish, itchy,
burning rash on the face only.It,
too, is temporary and passes, after which the skin of the face often looks a
lot more youthful.I do not know
why it occurs.

CADMIUM AND SEXUALITY

Cadmium has a
lot to do with male reproduction.Cadmium easily replaces zinc in the testicles and prostate gland.Toxicity is associated with impotence,
in particular, rather than just a low sperm count.As cadmium accumulates, it is harder to have an erection,
something that really bothers the ‘macho’ men.

Cadmium, women
and sexuality.Cadmium makes
women more sexual.This is
important to know.It makes them
more like the macho men.When the
cadmium is removed, they may lose this quality.Some women are upset by this, but in reality it is normal
and should not be a problem.They
just relax more and are less “itchy” or less sensitive in the genital
area.

Cadmium
relationships. Women with a lot of cadmium toxicity have more difficulty in
monogamous, close relationships.The reason is they are less in touch with their true, deep feminine
nature.Cadmium replaces some of
the more feminine minerals that they need, such as good copper, manganese,
selenium and other trace minerals that are either replaced by or blocked in
some way by cadmium.

This means that high-cadmium women are often less interested in
marriage, and more interested in sex, casual flings, and more superficial
relationships in which their macho quality can make them more “fun”.In a marriage setting, however, or a
deeper committed relationship, they are expected to bring out their true
feminine side, and this is hard for them with the cadmium inside of their
tissues, so the marriages have more difficulty.

Other macho qualities caused by their cadmium also can cause
relationship problems for both men and women.They can be short-tempered or even violent, a little angry
all of the time, much less happy, and superficial, perhaps, since cadmium does
not have the spiritual depth and perspective of zinc and other trace minerals
which it replaces.

This
is a large and fascinating subject that is discussed in more depth in a chapter
on the “Sexual Aspects Of Minerals” found in the 2010 edition of Nutritional
Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis.

CADMIUM REMOVAL

I
once read that the average half life of cadmium in the human body is 27
years.This means that cadmium
does not tend to leave the body very much on its own.

When
a person pursues a nutritional balancing program, cadmium will slowly be
eliminated, leading to many health benefits.If a poor eliminator pattern is present, (cadmium 0.004 mg%
or less), the reading will inevitably begin to rise on later hair tests as
cadmium begins to be mobilized and removed from the body.

This
can take several years, however, and cadmium one of the most difficult of the
metals to remove because it has such powerful adaptive qualities, as discussed
above.That is, it is such as
powerful “crutch” or support for the body, even if it is toxic, that it takes a
while to remove much of it.

To
remove cadmium, it is essential to support the adrenals and the sodium level
and remove the need for this adaptation.We do this by giving nutrients that, in the mineral system, raise the
sodium level.The mineral system
is explained in other articles on this website. Among these critical nutrients to help remove cadmium are
zinc, calcium, selenium, manganese, and vitamins C and E.We also often use a kidney formula such
as Renamide by Endomet
Laboratories in Phoenix, Arizona, to enhance cadmium removal.

Balancing
the oxidation rate is also very important.Another very excellent therapy is the use of a near infrared
sauna.Click
here to read about this superb, inexpensive, safe and quite comfortable
therapy.Sweating and the use of
the sauna may also be very helpful, as cadmium can be removed through the
skin.

Usually,
it takes months or up to ten or more years on a corrective nutrition program
before the body is able to eliminate most of its cadmium.In part, this is because cadmium is
extremely toxic.If it were
eliminated very quickly, a person would be in danger of dying due to the
toxicity from the elimination process.Indeed, when a large cadmium elimination occurs, one may notice odd
smells or tastes, a lot of fatigue and perhaps pain in the kidneys, bones or
elsewhere.This usually passes in
a short time, however.

One
way to tell this is a healing crisis and not a problem is to test the hair at
this time.An increased level of
cadmium may be revealed at this time as the cadmium is often, though not
always, eliminated through the hair and skin as well as through the other
eliminative organs of the body.

Chelation therapy for cadmium.Many holistic doctors and naturopaths
use EDTA to remove cadmium from the body.However, Dr. Eck found that EDTA used to remove cadmium always lowers the
sodium/potassium ratio.This
disturbed him greatly, because the Na/K ratio is the most critical ratio on a
hair mineral chart and has to do with adrenal and kidney activity, among other
things.

As a result, he recommended against EDTA
therapy for this reason.It cost
him a lot of business, but he held to the idea that any therapy that caused
this effect – weakening the kidneys and adrenals – is highly
suspect and should be avoided.

I
agree with this perspective.Possible reasons why EDTA and all of the other
chelation products lower the Na/K ratio may include:
1) toxicity of the chelator, 2) removal of vital
minerals along with cadmium, 3) other.All the problems with chelation therapy are
discussed in a separate article entitled Chelation Therapy on this website.

RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER MINERALS AND VITAMINS

Zinc.Cadmium sits just beneath zinc in the periodic
table of the elements.This means their structures are similar.Cadmium can replace zinc in the tissues and in enzyme
binding sites.An important cause
of cadmium toxicity other than exposure, is a zinc deficiency.If zinc is deficient due to the diet,
stress, or for some other reason, the body will absorb cadmium from food, water
or the air and use it in place of zinc.

Interestingly,
a gentleman who manufactures surgical gloves told me if they want the gloves to
be more flexible, they add zinc to the rubber mixture.If they want stiffer, more rigid
gloves, they add more cadmium.Cadmium has a hardening and stiffening effect on many industrial
products as well.

Copper.Dr. Paul C. Eck read that cadmium drives copper
into the tissues.This can
reduce the symptoms of copper toxicity in high-copper individuals.It may be one reason people enjoy and
can become addicted to smoking cigarettes or marijuana, and coffees.

They
have a high level of usually unavailable copper in the body, which is
unpleasant.The cadmium in the
cigarettes or cigarette papers helps reduce the effects of copper
toxicity.This is a very important
physiological connection between cadmium and copper that Dr. Eck figured out in
himself, among his many other patients.

Other Toxic
Metals.Cadmium is found with
many other toxic metals in the body.This includes mercury, aluminum, arsenic and others.This is an important fact about
cadmium.That is, when one detects
cadmium, one can take an educated guess that the others are present to some
degree.

Sodium.Dr. Eck also wrote that cadmium raises the
tissue sodium level intensely. In the medical literature this is called
an aldosterone-like effect. (Aldosterone is the
adrenal hormone that normally raises sodium levels in the body).

The sodium level in a person’s tissues is a very critical indicator of
health.When it is excessive or
diminished, it impairs healing a way that is hard to overcome without balancing
the level.

Anything
that raises sodium will provide an energy boost, and often a temporary feeling
of well-being.This is another
reason why smoking, which provides a lot of cadmium, as well as coffee and
perhaps even drinking a lot of tea and the use of marijuana can have an
addictive tendency.

Dr.
Eck once told me that if he had less integrity, he would manufacture and sell a
cadmium tablet to make people feel better, since a low tissue sodium level
always makes a person feel tired and often depressed.

Cadmium in
health food store products.Sadly, many health products naturally contain some cadmium, and it might
even be one of the active ingredients.Examples are fulvic and humic
acid products, trace mineral products from the sea, and even some herbs,
particularly Chinese and Ayurvedic herbs.

Taking these for a period of time often fools people into thinking they
are really getting better when they are becoming toxic with cadmium.By the time they realize there is a
problem, it is often too late to remove the cadmium, because removing cadmium
is a slow and sometimes difficult process.

Calcium.
Cadmium and calcium are antagonists. This is one important
reason why everyone is given calcium and magnesium supplements on a nutritional
balancing program.

Calcium helps remove cadmium by strengthening the immune response, by
raising sodium a little, and by other unusual mechanisms that are not well
understood. However, calcium does not automatically do this.Cadmium must be bioavailable
in a way for calcium to bind it.This does occur with nutritional balancing program that balances the
oxidation rate utilizing hair mineral analysis.It does not occur just be taking extra calcium in all cases,
although taking extra calcium with magnesium is protective against some cadmium
in all cases.

On
a psychological and metaphorical level, calcium represents life and positive
structure in the body, such as the bones.Cadmium represents shortening of the lifespan and death, and destruction
of the bones and other positive structure in the body.This may seem vague, but it is
absolutely true.

Calcium
supplements and cadmium. People with
cadmium toxicity may have difficulty taking calcium and perhaps magnesium.They may do better with pure calcium in
the form of MCHC (microcrystalline hydroxyapatite crystals).I am not sure why this is so, but it might be worth trying
if one cannot take Paramin or a cal/mag.

Iron,
manganese and chromium.Cadmium is somewhat antagonistic to iron, manganese and chromium.This is one reason for the accumulation
of these minerals in a biounavailable state, as they
counter cadmium toxicity in a powerful way.In other words, the body may seek to protect itself from
cadmium by accumulating even biounavailable iron,
manganese and chromium.This
process is common in the population, and is called the accumulation of the
amigos.To read more about it,
read The Amigos – Manganese, Iron,
Aluminum, Chromium and Others.

RELATIONSHIP TO VITAMINS

Vitamin C.Vitamin C in high doses will remove
cadmium from the body through a chelation
process.This is used in
nutritional balancing science.However, we do not use very high doses because vitamin C is extremely
yin and will remove some vital trace elements along with the cadmium.This is a serious problem with all chelation therapy.It is not necessary to use large doses of vitamin C, especially for
prolonged periods of time, to remove cadmium and other toxic metals for this
reason, although it works.

Dr. Eck believed that vitamin
C is so effective because vitamin C raises sodium, which cadmium does as
well.The vitamin C substitutes
for the cadmium in some way, keeping the sodium level higher and enabling the
body to more easily remove some cadmium.This is a very important aspect of nutritional
balancing science that I call removing
the need for adaptation.

In
other words, vitamin C helps remove the need for the use of cadmium as an adaptation to
raise a low sodium level, which is usually due to weak adrenal and kidney activity.

The
idea that a lethal substance like cadmium can be used by our bodies as an adaptation to
stress is a fascinating one that Dr. Eck loved to talk about.It sheds a much deeper light on the
subject of toxic metals, what they do, why they are present in the body, and
how to remove them safely, gently, and more rapidly without needing chelating
drugs that have serious side effects in some cases.

The
following is excerpted from The Mineral Reference Guide found in the back of Nutritional
Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis (2010 edition) by this author.

SOURCES OF CADMIUM TOXICITY

ŠAll shellfish
are the main source today.

ŠFood grown on cadmium-contaminated soil.Sewage sludge, fertilizers or
irrigation water may contaminate soil.

Psychological - cadmium toxicity is associated with learning
disorders and hyperactivity, perhaps due to zinc deficiency or to inhibition of
acetylcholine release in the brain.Cadmium is a lower “male” element associated with aggressiveness and
“macho” behavior.It is also found
commonly in criminals and psychopaths.

SYMPTOMS
OF CADMIUM TOXICITY

alopecia,
anemia

atherosclerosis

arteriosclerosis

arthritis,
osteo

arthritis,
rheumatoid

bone
repair, inhibited

cancer

cardiovascular
disease

cerebral
hemorrhage

cholesterol,
elevated

cirrhosis
of the liver

diabetes,
emphysema

enlarged
heart

failure-to-thrive
syndrome

fertility,
decreased

hyperlipidemia

hyperactivity
in children

hypertension

hypoglycemia

inflammation

lung
disease

migraine
headaches

osteoporosis

renal
disease

schizophrenia

sex
drive, reduced

strokes

vascular
disease

ANTAGONISTS

zinc,
calcium, vitamin D, copper, iron, manganese, vitamin C, protein (particularly
egg white).EDTA
is used to reduce cadmium by some doctors, but not in nutritional balancing.

HAIR
ANALYSIS NOTES

ŠThe ideal hair
cadmium level is probably about 0.005 mg%, lower than most labs suggest.We can reduce it this low eventually
with nutritional balancing programs.

ŠCadmium is commonly a poor eliminator or very poor
eliminator pattern on a hair mineral test.A poor eliminator is in the range of 0.002 to 0.005
mg%.A very poor eliminator is
less than 0.002 mg%.

ŠCadmium has an aldosterone-like
action and can powerfully elevate the hair sodium level.When cadmium is eliminated rapidly,
often the sodium level declines.

ŠCadmium is considered one of the most toxic of
the heavy metals.It is located
just below zinc in the periodic table of the elements.It replaces zinc in vital enzyme
binding sites.

ŠCadmium is often not revealed on early hair
tests.The metal is usually deeply
buried and requires time to uncover and dislodge from storage sites in the
body.