When "Wholefood" Vitamins Aren't Made From Actual Foods

After writing about wholefood multivitamins last week in the post More Pure Nutrition - Multivitamins, I received an email pointing out to me something I didn't know. This is part of how I learn, I write something to the best of my knowledge and someone who knows more than I do corrects me and then I go do more research. 

If you read the labels for these multivitamins, both of them list S. cerevisiae or Saccharomyces Food Culture (SFC) as part of the ingredients. The second one also lists Lactobacillus Food Culutre (LFC).

S. cerevisiae is Saccharomyces cerevisiae so Saccharomyces Food Culture (SFC) is the same thing by a different name. It's baker's yeast, the same stuff used to make bread.

Turns out that when a supplement label says S. cerevisiae or Saccharomyces Food Culture (SFC) or any other related term, the supplement contains nutrients grown into yeast in order to "make it more bioavailable."

Here's how it works in Nature. The soil contains inorganic materials. When plants take root, they pull these inorganic materials from the ground. Add some sunlight and the plant turns these inorganic salts into vitamins and plant bound minerals. As the plant grows, other co-factors are created, such as enzymes and phytonutrients. The vitamins, minerals and co-factors are what give the food its nutritional power in the body.

When you see on a label that Saccharomyces cerevisiae is part of an nutrient, that means that the nutrient has been combined with Saccharomyces cerevisiae to make it more bioavailable.

Instead of nutrients coming from fruits and vegetables grown on a farm, each individual vitamin and mineral found in the supplement formulations is grown separetly in single batches. It's an industrial process.

Here's how it typically happens.

There are two tanks.

1. The first tank contains a "nutrient rich broth," which contains a blend of carbohydrates (such as molasses), vegetable proteins, and the specific nutrient being transformed into "food state." S. cerevisiae is mixed with purified water to remove any unwanted ingredients that will affect the growing process.
2. The second tank contains the growing S. cerevisiae.
3. When the nutritve broth is introduced, the yeast--which is a living organism--metabolises the nutrient-rich broth. In the presence of all the nutrients from the broth, the yeast undergoes a process of growth, fermentation and biotransformation to produce a wholesome, vitalised, concentrated food.
4. Enzymes are then added to break down the cell wall of the S. cerevisiae. Once this is accomplished the enzymes are deactivated.

At the end of the process, there is no active yeast left. None of the yeast cell structure exists, only the nutritional components in an easily digestible form.

If you look at the labels for both, they each give a list of whole foods AND a list of individual nutrients that were grown with S. cerevisiae. In fact, most of the second brand is made up of these S. cerevisiae nutrients.

I read quite a few articles about this process this morning. All use language like "mimic" and "allow the nutrient to emulate natural food." They say that "food state nutrients have been tested by independent laboratories who found that they are significantly better absorbed, longer retained and better used than standard chemical supplements."

In addition, it seems that the nutrients that are being fed to the yeast to make them more bioavailable are still the same industrial nutrients found in most supplements anyway.

Yes, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a food, but it's a food grown in a lab with an industrial process instead of in a living ecosystem.

What makes real wholefood vitamins different is that they are actually made from whole FOODS, foods grown on the farm in soil and sunshine and rain with earthworms making topsoil and everything else that happens in a living ecosystem.

So again I will pose my challenge. I'm looking for supplements that contain only whole FOOD ingredients, not fortified with industrial nutrients passed through yeast.

And again I will point out that Touchstone Essentials wholefood supplements that I take are made from WHOLE FOODS. They are made from wholefoods organically grown on their own farms, specifically formulated to support the body in it's detox function and to nourish the body on a cellular level. Taken together, they supply all the nutrients needed by a healthy adult (if you have specific health conditions, you may need additional specific nutrients to support the healing of those organs). Healthy cells make a healthy body. 

More Pure Nutrition - Multivitamins

In response to my Vitamin C comparison last week, I received two requests to check out brands that have wholefood multivitamin formulas and special formulations for specific body conditions.

The first one is MegaFood. Here's a general description:

• 100% Raw Whole Food Nutrients 
• Certified organic herbs 
• Promotes immune health and well-being 
• Protective array of carotenoids and antioxidants from colorful whole foods and organic herbs 
• Enriched with enzymes to enhance digestive health 
• Easy to digest & can be taken on an empty stomach without upset 
• Tested FREE of pesticides, herbicides, gluten and soy
• Every essential vitamin, mineral, macro nutrient and micro nutrient is supplied in its most bioavailable form, 100% Whole Food as Cold Fusion FoodState Nutrients developed by Durham Research, Inc.

 It is pretty clearly stated that each nutrient comes from a whole food, but there is no information about other ingredients the product might contain. I called an online distributor to see if it was a tablet or a capsule, and she said it was a tablet. When I then asked about excipents, she immediately gave me MegaFood's phone number (800-848-2542) so I could "get a straight answer" from them directly. She said every time she has asked they say it's "vegetable cellulose." Hmmm. I've talked to a lot of manufacturers and they say that the reason they use magnesium stearate is that there is no other way to turn it into a tablet. She sounded a little uncertain about this. And it's not on the label (on the label for another of their products it says "plant cellulose, vegetable lubricant". Hmmmm. I couldn't call MegaFood because they were closed when I got this information.

The other multivitamin I was asked about is sold at nutri2u.com. They sell only one supplement, called MultiMin Food Complex. The description is:

MultiMin FOOD VITAMINS™ contain ten different types of Food Ingredient. Each food ingredient is a potent nutrient-dense SUPERFOOD in itself. These food vitamin concentrates and food mineral cultures contain all known amino acids [protein], complex carbohydrate, complex vitamins, lipids, complex minerals, fiber, AND calories; as all nutritious whole foods do!

MultiMin FOOD VITAMINS™ are loaded with significant amounts of antioxidants, enzymes, chlorophyll, anthocyanidins [OPC's], bioflavonoid, carotenoids, and other phyto-nutrients. Nutrient-dense whole food vitamins have a variety of bioactive compounds, including glutathione, CoQ10, and superoxide dismutase.

MultiMin FOOD VITAMINS™ whole food ingredients in compress together without added fiber, chemicals, and binders. The tablets are compressed in low volume presses to prevent heat.

You CAN Buy Pure Nutrition - Vitamin C

Yesterday I received an email from one of my readers saying she wanted to find a non-synthetic Vitamin C. "Would you consider this Now Foods brand NONsynthetic?" she asked, and gave me this URL: http://www.nowfoods.com/Supplements/Products-by-Category/Vitamins/Vitamin-C/M089283.htm

Here are the supplements facts given:

The vitamin C is from organic amla extract. Good.  This edible fruit—also called Indian gooseberry—is well-known for it's high vitamin C content and it's potent antioxidant activity. 

Organic Amla Extract (minimum 50% Natural Ascorbic Acid). What's the other 50 percent????
I called and they told me it was the rest of the cofactors in amla. Fifty percent is vitamin C, the other firsty percent cofactors.

Rutin is a compound found in various plants, which contributes to their antibacterial and antioxidant properties.

Rose hips and grape seed extract are also good wholefood ingredients.

But then there are these other ingredients:  cellulose powder, magnesium stearate, stearic acid, and silica. All from natural sources, but not nutrients. They are called "excipients" and some people argue that they aren't good for our health. 

Compare this to the brand of Vitamin C I take: Vitality C.

Just Vitamin C from Organic Amla Extract and bioflavonoids, which is the rest of the C complex. 

That's it. Nothing else. No excipients.

There ARE very pure products available, including Vitality C, Vitality B, and Touchstone Essentials. Let me know if you know of others and I will add them to my list.

Some of the supplements I take do contain excipients, which need to be used to form tablets. My bottom line is that the nutrients need to come from whole foods. As long as I have wholefoods, I believe the benefit of the wholefood ingredients outweighs the harm of the excipients.

However, whenever I can get wholefood nutrition that's totally pure, that's always my first choice.

Apples Counteract Chemicals That Cause Cancer

Here's an easy thing to do to protect your health from cancer-causing chemicals.

Eat an apple a day to counteract any stray carcinogens you encounter. But be sure to eat the PEEL, because that's where all the substances are that have this effect. That means that even if you are diabetic and don't eat fruit you can do this, because all you need to eat is the peel.

You might have the idea that you shouldn't eat apple peels because they are sprayed with pesticides, and that's true for conventional apples. But you can eat all the peels you want from organically-grown apples.

Watch this short video to learn more...

Chocolate Heals Damage from Toxic Chemicals...and Helps Your Heart More than Statin Drugs

In my book Toxic Free I recommended chocolate as one of many antioxidants you can eat to help restore the free radical imbalance in your body caused by exposure to toxic chemicals.

That alone is enough for me to eat a bit of chocolate every day! Just make sure to eat dark chocolate that does not contain refined white sugar. There are many brands at your natural food store and online that are sweetened with unrefined sweetners, or you can make your own "fudge" with unsweetened cocoa powder and your favorite sweetener (see my recipe by clicking on the antioxidant link above -- scroll down the page).

But it turns out that chocolate has many other health benefits as well.

An excellent article on GreenMedInfo.com called Chocolate Gives Statins A $29 Billion Run For Their Money points out that it has been known since 2006 that eating cocoa reduced the risk of dying from heart problems by 50% in older men, and they were eating only a half ounce of chocolate per week!

They went on to say that there is plenty of human clinical research supporting the eating of cocoa for the reduction of both cardioascular disease risk factors and other associated outcomes, including high blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, low HDL, stroke, heart disease, and other heart-related problems. You can read these studies on their cocoa page (requires membership).

They also note that eating chocolate seems to improve the condition of the blood vessels in a way that reduces the accumulation of plaque in the arteries, and blood lipid levels.

And they had this to say about statin drugs: "Statins are produced from chemicals, and therefore guarantee a certain degree of collateral poisoning will take place, whereas chocolate has a long history of safe use both as a food and a medicine."

• Slowing the aging process
• Protection against Alzheimers
• Stress reduction
• Inhibiting Cholesterol Oxidation
• Boosting cognitive performans
• Inhibiting cancer
• Improving diabetes
• Boosting sexual function

If you are going to eat chocolate, be sure to choose an organically-grown fair-trade chocolate, such as those brands listed at Debra's List: Food: Chocolate. Non-organic cocoa and chocolate may contain residues of the herbicide glyphasate (the active ingredient in Roundup).

The article also warns "because chocolate has complex pharmacologically active properties, it must be consumed in moderation, and with attention paid toward the tendency for using it to self-medicate."

If I feel like a bit of chocolate, I eat a measured amount in a little bowl, after lunch as a treat with pecans. That way I can eat "the whole thing" and it's a moderate amount.

Thyroid and Toxic Metals

before and after treatment for thyroid disorder

I've written about thyroid before on this blog, but more insight and information continues to come to me, so here it is again. 

I want to tell you a bit about my personal experience with thyroid problems and healing my own thyroid gland. I have a family history of thyroid problems, I think on both sides. That shouldn't be a surprise because something like 56 million people have thyroid problems. The thyroid gland is a very important part of your body. It releases a hormone called T4, which is then converted by your body into T3, which literally runs every cell in your body. Without adequate thyroid, the metabolism of your body just doesn't run. And for this reason, a properly functioning thyroid gland is vital. But your thyroid gland is easily damaged by toxic chemical exposure. I've written about how fluoride and bromide can affect your thyroid gland and also how the heavy metal cadminum damages the thyroid gland. But there's more. 

For the past couple of weeks I've been intensively studying what can affect the thyroid gland because of my own personal need to improve it's condition. Many years ago when I became sensitive to petrochemicals, 

I also began having thyroid problems, and I've seen these two go hand in hand with many many people over the years. Reading Overcoming Thyroid Disorders by Dr. David Brownstein MD, once again, I saw that a key step in restoring thyroid function is detoxification, particularly from heavy metals. So important, in fact, he devoted an entire chapter to it. "One of the main reasons the thyroid glad can malfunction," he writes, "is from exposure to heavy metals including mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and nickel. These agents poison enzyme systems throughout the body and decrease the normal function of various organcs and glands including the thyroid gland. 

Detoxifying the body and removing these harmful elements can vastly improve the overall picture of one's health." Dr. Brownstein goes on to write about how the body has mechanisms to remove toxic chemicals, but problems develop when our detoxification pathways become overwhelmed as a result of overexposure. He says, "It has been my observation that it is impossible for someone to overcome illness and achieve thier optimal health without optimizing their detoxification systems...People suffering with thyroid disorders often have poorly functioning detoxification systems." And the first toxic substances he addresses are heavy metals. "I have found heavy metal toxicity in a large percentage (>80%) of patients suffering from chronic illnesses, including thyroid disorders...the exposure to toxic metals will predispose the immune system to malfunction." "When the body is detoxified of heavy metals, the signs of thyroid hormone resistance generally improve. Patients are often able to lower thyroid hormone levels or stop taking medication when their body is properly detoxified." 

Dr. Brownstein's heavy metal detox program includes 

1. Removing the source of toxic exposure 
2. Improving nutrition to nourish the body 
3. Using proper medications and supplements to support detox organs 
4. Drinking adequate amounts of water 
5. Sweating

Dr. Brownstein goes into detail about each of these steps in his book OvercomingThyroid Disorders

Heavy Metals Cause Health Problems in Bumblebees--What About You?

A new study from the University of Pittsburd has linked toxic amounts of aluminum and nickel found in flowers to health problems in bumblebees.

Bumblebees flying freely around ecosystems encounter heavy metals in the nectar of flowers growing in soil that was contaminated by exhaust from vehicles, industrial machinery and farm equipment.

The principle investigator of the study said, "Although many metals are required by living organisms in small amounts, they can be toxic to both plants and animals when found in moderate to high concentrations. These metals can interfere with insect taste perception, agility and working memory — all necessary attributes for busy bumblebee workers."

It was interesting to me that the study found that bumblebees can taste some heavy metals, such as nickel, and tend to avoid the flowers that taste like metals. But the bees didn't sense aluminum.

Bumblebees are mostly natural pollinators, so they are not making honey, but researchers concluded that heavy metals in flowers are likely to harm honeybees in the same way. And if honeybees are processing nectar that contains heavy metals into honey, then that honey contains heavy metals as well.

Heavy metals can also affect our human health, and who among us does not sit in traffic breathing car exhaust full of heavy metals? This is why I take Pure Body liquid zeolite drops every day. Even though my home is as toxic-free as can be, the minute I step out the door, I am exposed to a mine field of toxic heavy metals and chemicals in the world at large. It's difficult to control those environmental exposures, but it's easy to help my body eiiminate them.

Remember that being healthy in our toxic world is about both preventing toxic substances from entering our bodies AND effectively eliminating toxic chemicals that have entered our body in the past and in the present. We need to do both for good health.

Sources:

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pitt researchers find toxic metals move from soil to flowers, affecting bumblebees

Environmental Pollution: The effects of aluminum and nickel in nectar on the foraging behavior of bumblebees

Save on Health Care Costs by Investing in Good Health

How would you like to save money on health care costs? That health care costs today are staggering is no secret. Even with health insurance the costs of a major illness—such as cancer—can drain a lifetime of savings, and create deep debt.

But there is a way to reduce your health care costs: invest small amounts of money wisely now doing things that create health instead of spending huge amounts of money later to try to recover from illness.

Here are some good investments for health.

1. Invest in removing toxic chemicals from your body

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 133 million people in the United States—almost half of all Americans—have some sort of chronic disease or condition related to toxic chemical exposures.

Seventy percent of deaths and seventy-five percent of U.S. health care costs are now attributed to toxic chemicals in consumer products we use in our homes every day.

The organization Safer Chemicals Healthy Families put together a comprehensive report on the costs of various illnesses and how toxic chemicals contribute to causing them. It's worth taking a look at Chemicals and Our Health: Why Recent Science is a Call to Action. It was written to show lawmakers that we need more regulation on toxic chemicals in consumer products, But for me, it also shows anyone interested in health that health care costs can be reduced by eliminating exposure to certain toxic chemicals. And that includes the exposures we are all carrying around in our bodies.

The investment to make now is in things like nontoxic products that eliminate exposure to toxic chemicals in the first place, a water filter to have plenty of clean water to flush toxics from your body, and all natural liquid zeolite drops that remove heavy metals, radiation and other toxic chemicals from your body quickly and easily (only $25 a month).

2. Invest in good nutrition

To be healthy, your body needs a wide variety of nutrients, protein, fat, fiber, carbohydrates and other living factors found in fresh, whole, organic foods. Junk food and synthetic vitamins don't provide these building blocks of health.

It costs a little more to buy organic foods and wholefood supplements, but it's worth making the investment now. Some supplements, like essential magnesium, cost much less now than drugs or alternative treatments will cost later.

3. Invest in exercise

Exercise can cost nothing if you simply go for a walk outdoors, but even if you need walking shoes, or a rebounder, or a gym membership, these costs are nothing compared to the cost of a major illness.

In addition to all the usual health benefits from exercise, moving your body moves the lymph fluid in your body, which carries toxic chemicals from cells throughout your body to your kidneys, where they can be eliminated. Unlike your circulatory system, which moves blood through your body as a result of being pumped by your heart, your lymphatic system does not have a pump to aid its flow. In order for your lymph system to dispose of toxic chemicals, you must move your body. It doesn't happen without body movement. This is why exercise is so important for detoxification.

4. Invest in preventive maintenance

Many alternative therapys can be used to improve health, even if your body is not "sick." Getting a therapeutic massage to relax muscles, putting bones in their proper places and opening nerve channels with chiropractic, or improving energy flows with acupuncture serve to improve your body at any stage of health.

I have been getting therapeutic massages twice a week for the past couple of years and it's had an amazing effect on my body. Worth every dollar.

5. Create your own affordable "health insurance"

I don't pay for health insurance that pays for high tech modern medicine. Instead, I put my money into "insuring" that my body will be healthy in the future as a result of the actions I am taking today.

There are some inexpensive programs that will pay for limited services.

I have a plan that costs $58 a month, which covers my thyroid supplement prescription, all lab tests, and $50 toward doctor and dentist visits. This is through Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Florida, I don't know if it is available in other states.

I also pay $39.95 a month to Care Entree for a program that I only use in case of emergency hospitalization.

A long time ago I made a decision to contribute to the health of my body every day instead of living in a way that was destructive to my body and then trying to recover from illness.

I'd much rather spend my money on delicious organic food, clean water, wholefood supplements, liquid zeolite for detox, therapeutic massages, and relaxing vacations than doctors, drugs, and hospitals. Wouldn't you?

Allocating money for health expernditures is at the top of my budget. Because without a functioning body, all I can do is lie in bed. And that's just not as much fun as being out in the world doing interesting things.

More on Lead in Chicken Soup

After posting last week about a study where lead was found in chicken soup, a reader sent me another article on the subject written by Dr. Kaayla Daniel, who I've known and trusted for many years. She points out the flaws in the study and gives the result of another study that shows homemade broth made from grass-fed and pastured animals does not contain lead.

Still, it's good to know that some chicken soup might contain lead, particularly chicken soup from nonorganic animals, or made with tap water, or which have had other exposures to lead. And canned chicken soup would also contain BPA from the can lining. All of us may already have lead in our bodies from eating chicken soup in the past that contained lead.

This all comes back to making your own food at home, so you know the source of the ingredients and the water, and what cookware was used.

A study about lead in chicken broth has been ruffling a lot of feathers lately, and it’s been scaring way too many people away from broth.

The study, which appeared January 30, 2013 in the journal Medical Hypothesis, is entitled “The Risk of Lead Contamination in Bone Broth Diets.” It reports broth made from organic chickens was contaminated with lead, one of the deadliest toxic metals known.

That’s scary news, and if the study were valid, there would be plenty of reason for concern. Lead, after all, is a neurotoxin that can cross the placenta and blood-brain barrier. It is associated with abnormal fetal development as well as a very long list of neurobehavioral disorders and diseases in children and adults, including ADHD, violence, social withdrawal, depression, substance abuse, and Parkinson’s. Lead is so bad that the body in its wisdom sequesters it as far from the action as possible. About 90 percent of lead in birds and mammals goes deep into the bones. Other favored organs of accumulation are the kidney and liver. When the body tries to eliminate lead, the principal route of excretion is through the urine, not through the skin.

Lead is a double whammy for children — even well-nourished children — because their bodies and brains are developing and they can absorb a whopping 50 percent of the lead found in their dietary intake. In contrast, adults will absorb 1 to 10 percent.

Clearly, what we need to know is this: Is all broth contaminated with lead because of our toxic world? Or was the batch stirred up by the three UK researchers unusually contaminated?

Let’s take a closer look at that study.

The researchers cooked up and tested the following for lead.

• Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage
• Broth made from tap water plus bones
• Broth made from tap water plus meat
• Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control.

The bones, skin, cartilage and meat all came from the same source. Surprisingly, the researchers found the highest levels of lead in the broth made from cartilage and skin, not in the broth made from bones, the place where 90 percent of ingested or inhaled lead accumulates. Broth made from meat alone showed the lowest levels, as would be expected, while the water used showed minimal lead contamination. The figures for lead are:

• 9.5 ugL for broth made with skin and cartilage 
• 7.01 ugL for broth made with bones 
• 2.3 ugL for broth made with meat 
• 0.89 ugL for the lead found in tap water cooked alone.

Seeing those figures, it’s hard not to worry about good old-fashioned broth, which would typically be made at home using a combination of bones, cartilage and skin. Indeed the news is so alarming that some people have already cut back on drinking broth. Others have chosen not to panic, and have simply shrugged off the news as the latest scare tactic taken by Big Food, as evidence that ALL foods are contaminated today, or both.

Chris Kresser has pointed out in a widely circulated blog on this study that the levels of lead found in the broth tested for this study are lower than the EPA limit for lead in tap water, which is 15 ug/L. That, of course, begs the question of whether the level of contamination permitted in tap water is acceptable. In any case, as Kresser pointed out, a cup or two of broth a day would go well under that level and should not be considered dangerous.

Kresser and others have further argued that there’s no reason to worry about a little lead when bone broth also contains calcium. The idea is, calcium interferes with lead absorption in the intestines. We also know Vitamin D deficiency will increase lead accumulation in bones and Vitamin C and/or iron deficiencies will increase lead levels in the blood. Adequate iron and B vitamins (particularly thiamine and folate) status also play roles in reducing the risk of lead toxicity. Clearly is it wise to be well-nourished.

In a best broth scenario then, people replete in calcium would not suffer ill effects from lead in the broth. Such people would also benefit from the ample quantities of the amino acid glycine in the broth because glycine — along with the cysteine and glutamic acid also found in broth — are needed by the body to produce glutathione, an antioxidant that helps us dispatch lead and other heavy metals.

Unhappily, that beneficial broth scenario does not hold true unless people already have a healthy gut. It is far less likely be the case in those already suffering from digestive disorders and compromised gastrointestinal integrity. This is definitely the case with children afflicted with autism and other disorders, and unfortunately these are the very children being given broth as part of their gut healing. As already pointed out, even normal children can absorb up to 50 percent of the lead in food. Furthermore, as Dr. Russell Blaylock has pointed out, lead will magnify the possibility of excitotoxicity fueled by glutamic acid.

Although the body needs glutamic acid, people who are highly sensitive to MSG may have to limit direct consumption of even glutamic acid from food. This is the probable reason why many GAPS practitioners have observed that people often do better if they start their healing journeys with meat broth and later move on to full-fledged broth that has also been made with skin, cartilage and bones.

The takeaway here is that broth containing lead may not be an appropriate prescription for gut healing. Yes, calcium from broth may protect us from lead in the way selenium in fish protects us from the mercury as Kresser has pointed out. But no, I would say it is still not wise to consume high mercury fish such as tuna daily or to drink copious amounts of broth every day if that broth comes with a load of lead.

All of which leads us back to our key question: Is all broth contaminated with lead because of our toxic world? Or was the batch stirred up by the three UK researchers unusually contaminated?

Those curious enough to pay $31.50 to see the full text of this study online won’t find out very much. The researchers do not tell us how the broth was made, where it was made, where the chickens came from, how they lived, or what they were fed. All the researchers tell us is they made “broth” and tested three types of it (broth from meat, broth from skin and cartilage, and broth from bones). They also report they tested the water for lead as a control, apparently after being simmered in the same cookware for the same length of time as the broth. The chickens were “organic” though the study offers no specifics on what is meant by that.

That leaves a flock of unanswered questions, starting with the cookware and the ingredients.

What type of cookware was used? What recipe was used? Was the broth made with vinegar or wine? If so, how much? Was the tap water fluoridated? What was the pH of the tap water? If wine or vinegar was used in the recipe, why didn’t the researchers simmer the combination of water plus the vinegar or wine and then test for lead?

Why do we need answers to these questions? Some types of pots, particularly those made with ceramic, have been found to be high in lead. Water with an alkaline pH, would be less likely to leach lead out of the cookware, while water with an acid pH would be more likely to leach lead. Along this same line, the water should have also been tested after cooking with the same amount of vinegar or wine used in the recipe. Fluoride matters because it increases lead accumulation.

Without the answers to these questions, it’s not fair to indict the broth when the cookware might have been the culprit.

A query to Basant Puri, the corresponding author of this study, was forwarded to Dr. Jean Monro, Director of the Breakspear Medical Group, who answered some of our questions. She reported the ingredients for the broth were only chicken and water, that the pH of the water was “irrelevant” and the cookware was stainless. Although stainless steel has possible toxicity issues related to chromium and nickel, it has never been found high in lead. Having ruled out the cookware as the source of the lead, it’s time to learn more about those chickens.

A careful reading of the study once again leaves us with a flock of unanswered questions.

What were those “organic” chickens fed? What water did those “organic” chickens drink? Were the chickens “free range” or confined? Where were the chickens raised? What were their living conditions?

In Medical Hypotheses, the researchers report the chickens were “organic birds.” That’s all, and it is not enough information. Generally, the term “organic,” refers to the process by which that food was grown or produced. Organic certification — both in the US and UK — fails to address environmental contamination, and there is no limit to how much lead or other toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium, arsenic and aluminum are allowed in organic feeds. In brief, for this study to have any validity, the feed needed to be tested for lead. “Organic feeds” also contain grains, which are known to contribute more dietary exposure to lead than the grasses and bugs eaten by pastured chickens living in areas where the soil itself is not contaminated.

Organic certification also fails to address the possibility of lead-contaminated water supplies. Was the chicken’s drinking water tested for lead? Was it piped in through old lead pipes? Were the water troughs soldered with lead? And what was the lead level of water in the area where the chickens grew up.

Since none of these important questions were answered in the study itself, we requested more information. Dr. Monro replied that the chickens were from an attested organic farm, “unlikely to have been on land close to a highway” and produced by an organic company called Highlander. She stated that neither the soil nor the water drunk by the chickens was tested for lead.

Attempts to reach the Highlander Company to learn more about the chickens and their living conditions proved fruitless. The company was apparently dissolved and extensive online searching yielded no information about where this company’s farms were located or whether their “organic” chickens were free range or confined. A follow up question about this to Dr. Monro has not yet been answered.

The location of the farm is critically important yet we don’t even know if the farm was in the UK. To understand the basic issues that a valid study would have taken into account let’s take a look at a likely scenario for lead contamination. To do this, let’s assume the farm in question was located somewhere near the Breakspear Medical Group, which is based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in the Thames region of England, west of London. In 2011, the Chief Inspector of Drinking Water reported multiple locations east of Hemel Hempstead where public water supplies tested failed to meet the acceptable future lead standard of 10 ug/L in 2004 and 2010. Areas to the north, south and west of Hemel Hempstead also had pockets where the water supplies failed to meet that standard. If the organic chickens were grown in any of those pockets, they could have become lead toxic from the public water supply.

Groundwater, too, can become contaminated if the water is acidic, a common situation in acid mine drainage areas. Sources of lead in surface water or sediment include lead-containing dust from the atmosphere, waste water from industries that handle lead (iron and steel and lead producers), urban runoff, and mining piles. Because we do not know where the chickens were raised, we can only speculate as to whether conditions such as these might have been present.

Another confounding factor could have been fluoridated water. Fluoride and lead have high synergy, and fluoride has been proven to increase lead accumulation in birds and mammals. Not all public water in the Thames Basin Region is fluoridated, but, according to the Drinking Water 2010 Report, there is much natural fluoride there, and it is not removed by conventional water treatment. So fluoride too could would have increased the levels of lead had those chickens been grown there.

Clearly, the researchers have failed to provide us with sufficient information about the chickens and their living conditions. Those needed details might also have solved the mystery of why the broth found to be the most contaminated by lead was not made from bones but from skin and cartilage.

Textbooks report that 90 percent of lead ingested or inhaled goes into the bones and is excreted through the urine, not out through the skin. Yet these chickens had more lead in their skin and cartilage than in their bones. How could that be? High lead in chicken skin only makes sense if the chickens were free range and raised in an area where the soil had high lead content. Given the chance, chickens not only go hunting and pecking but root, rock and roll around in the soil. Poultry farmers call this “dusting.”

If the chickens were both free range and local to the Hemel Hempstead area, they may well have been rolling around in soil high in lead. That area, as discussed above, has pockets where water supplies have been contaminated by lead. The chickens might also have lived near an industrial site (past or present) or beside a highway, though Dr. Monro thinks this “unlikely.” Dirt near highways is almost always contaminated with lead because leaded gasoline was used in cars and trucks prior to the 1970s.

Yet another possibility is the chickens lived in an old fruit orchard where lead arsenate, a pesticide widely used in England, as well as other countries, would have accumulated in the soil. Lead arsenate was mainly used on apple trees, but also on other fruit tress, garden crops, turf grasses and against mosquitos. High lead content would also be expected in the soil near old houses or other structures now painted or once painted with lead paint.

In fact, the UK is riddled with lead problems in its water, soil and air. A 2009 comparison of lead exposure standards revealed the UK had the worst occupational exposure limit for airborne lead of 20 countries.

“Dusting” is the probable reason those chicken skins were high in lead, but there is no obvious explanation for the cartilage. Textbooks do not list cartilage in the body as an accumulation site for lead, which makes sense given the fact that cartilage is not nourished by the blood supply. The likeliest explanation is that the high lead content of the broth made with both skin and cartilage got its lead almost entirely from the lead-dusted skin.

At this time, we have located just one other research study that looked at lead contamination of broth. In that case, the researchers determined the predominant source of the metal was tap water. They found very little lead in a beef bone broth, more in a beef casserole that used red wine, but the highest level by far in baked potatoes with skins contaminated from the lead in the soil.

Several other studies have investigated the levels of lead found in the muscles and organs of conventionally raised chickens. In each case, the lead appeared where it would be expected — i.e. in the bones, with much less in the skin and cartilage.

In conclusion, there are many reasons to think the broth used for the Breakspear Medical Group’s study was a contaminated sample. At the very minimum, a competent study would have tested broth made from chickens grown in several locations and provided full information about the chickens’ living conditions. Competent researchers would also have tested the chickens’ feed, water and soil for lead. Rather than make a serious effort to find out what particular conditions contribute to lead in broth and help people source their broth carefully, the three researchers chose to do a quick and dirty study that casts aspersion on a traditional healing food. At most, their finding of lead in broth should serve as a warning to consumers that the careful sourcing of broth is warranted in our toxic world.

To end on a very positive note, we would like to announce here the results of testing performed by The National Food Lab on bone broth from grass-fed beef and pastured chicken. These broths were prepared in stainless steel soup pots by Three Stone Hearth Co-op in Berkeley. As tested on February 14, 2013, the results were as follows:

• Grassfed beef broth. No lead detected 
• Pastured chicken broth: No lead detected 
• Reverse osmosis water: No lead detected 

The takeaway? The flap about the Medical Hypotheses article is a lot of clucked up nonsense. Just take care with the source of your broth.

A longer, more comprehensive version of this article complete with 62 references is at http://drkaayladaniel.com/boning-up-is-broth-contaminated-with-lead/

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food endorsed by leading health experts, including Drs Joseph Mercola, Larry Dossey, Kilmer S. McCully, Russell Blaylock and Doris J. Rapp.

She is Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, on the Board of Directors of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and received the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Integrity in Science Award in 2005. Kaayla has been a guest on The Dr.Oz Show, PBS Healing Quest, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy, and many other shows.

Kaayla is known as The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. You can read her blog at www.drkaayladaniel.com.

Lead in Chicken Soup!? Another Reason To Detox

This week one of my readers sent me an article about a study which showed that homemade chicken soup made with organic chicken bones contained 7x more lead than the tap water it was made with, and 10x more lead if it was made with chicken skin and cartiledge.

The study was done because it is known that both farm animals and humans can be exposed to lead via food, water, and air, and that it progressively accumulates in bone. The researchers wanted to find out if lead in the bones of farm animals would be released into our food when cooked, particularly when cooked for long periods of time to make stock.

Lead can adversely affect our nervous systems, blood systems, digestive system, kidneys, endocrine system and every other part of our bodies. Less lead exposure is better than more.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has stated "there is no safe level of lead in blood."

So does this mean we should stop eating chicken soup? Well, no. Chicken soup, as any grandmother will tell you, has a tremendous amount of good concentrated nutrition. I myself make chicken soup every week, in fact, there is a pot of chicken soup simmering on the stove right now. And every time I eat homemade chicken soup my body feels great.

There are two things you can do to protect your body from lead while getting the nutrients found in chicken soup.

1. Eat nutrients that have protective effects against lead.

• calcium 
• iron 
• vitamin D 
• vitamin C 
• thiamin (B1)

You can read more about how these nutrients protect against lead in the source article given below.

2. Take Pure Body Liquid Zeolite

Pure Body Liquid Zeolite will remove lead already stored in your body from past exposures, and any new lead you are exposed to through chicken soup or any of the many other places you can be exposed to lead. Tiny bits of highly absorbent zeolite (a natural mineral) act like little magnets to attract heavy metals, radiation, and some organic chemicals from your bloodstream, removing them from your body within 4-6 hours. Over a period of months, taking PureBody on a daily basis can remove aluminum and other metals that have accumulated in your body.

Just a few drops every day will remove lead you are being exposed to before it gets in your bones.

Source: Bone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?
Original Study: The risk of lead contamination in bone broth diets