Biological and health implications of toxic heavy metal and
essential trace element interactions.
Chowdhury BA, Chandra RK.
Human civilization and a concomitant increase in industrial activity has
gradually redistributed many toxic metals from the earth's crust to the
environment and increased the possibility of human exposure. Among the various
toxic elements, heavy metals cadmium, lead, and mercury are specially
prevalent in nature due to their high industrial use. These metals serve no
biological function and their presence in tissues reflects contact of the
organism with its environment. They are cumulative poison, and are toxic even
at low dose. Studies of metabolism and toxicity of these elements have
revealed important interactions between them and some essential dietary
elements like calcium, zinc, iron, selenium, copper, chromium, and manganese.
In general, a deficiency of these essential elements increases toxicity of
heavy metals, whereas an excess appears to be protective. While most of the
observations are on laboratory animals, limited human data are in agreement
with the results of animal experiments. These suggest that the dietary
presence of the essential elements may contribute to the protection of man and
animal from the effects of heavy metal exposure, while their deficiency may
increase toxicity. Appropriate dietary manipulation thus may be valuable in
the prevention and treatment of heavy metal toxicity.
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