9 Comments
User's avatar
David Newman's avatar

Well done. Appreciate the person-centered perspective. It’s rare.

Expand full comment
Mick Skolnick, MD's avatar

I eat 85% dark chocolate on an almost daily basis. It makes me happy, and does contain some important nutrients. However, I hedge my bets by purchasing brands with lower levels of heavy metals, and keep the amount I eat to a minimum.

While “the dose makes the poison,” lead is cumulative and slow to be eliminated. It remains in bones and teeth indefinitely. So it’s really a matter of both the dose and how often it is repeated.

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-are-common-in-chocolate-especially-organic-a1042224604/

Expand full comment
KB's  FROM THE PETRI DISH's avatar

Imagine the amount of lead we breathed in, back in the days of leaded gasoline? I did read that Mexico City was very bad. Still an endemic problem in Mexico. "... As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) considers lead one of ten chemicals of greatest concern for public health (WHO, 2010). Although blood lead levels (BLLs) in the Mexican population have declined significantly in the last 25 years following the elimination of lead in gasoline (Pantic et al., 2018;Rothenberg et al., 1998), toxic exposure persists in the general population due to the presence of lead in food and beverages cooked or stored in low-temperature glazed pottery (LTGP) (Rojas-Lopez et al., 1994;Romieu et al., 1994;Tellez-Rojo et al., 2017;Tellez-Rojo et al., 2019), despite a national law that has established lead limits in pottery (NOM-011-SSA1, 1993). ..." https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Lead-released-by-cans-and-lead-content-of-canned-foods_tbl1_15676209

Expand full comment
Rachael Quisel's avatar

No amount of lead is considered safe to eat. Even small amounts of lead can be harmful to human health, particularly for children and pregnant individuals, as it can cause developmental delays, neurological damage, and other serious health problems. In adults, lead consumption can contribute to high blood pressure, kidney damage, and cognitive issues.

Expand full comment
KB's  FROM THE PETRI DISH's avatar

When I read it, I felt it was lame. Happened across this tonight. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.069414

Expand full comment
Mick Skolnick, MD's avatar

Of course, “further study is needed.” Still… how can heavy metals such as lead and cadmium be good for us?

Expand full comment
Hudson E Baldwin lll's avatar

You consistently poo poo factual constituents that are known carcinogens and toxins to the human body. It might not be that individual that matters whatsoever, but combined, they create the toxic soup in which we exist. Amount of so-called "auto immune disease" it is an obvious factor in health or lack of. By the way, when your body attacks itself, that sure as hell is not a disease. That isn't reaction to something in your body.

Expand full comment
Nerissa's avatar

Why have I heard "there is no safe level of lead"? 😕

Expand full comment
Health Nerd's avatar

Because people say things that are incorrect all the time. Lead is bad, but nanograms of lead aren't likely to harm you. Everything has a safety threshold, even water.

Expand full comment