Lead Is Associated With An Older Biological Age And An Increased Mortality Risk

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Papers referenced in the video:
Multi-Omic Biological Age Estimation and Its Correlation With Wellness and Disease Phenotypes: A Longitudinal Study of 3,558 Individuals pubmed.ncbi.nl...
Levels of a mixture of heavy metals in blood and urine and all-cause, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality: A population-based cohort study www.sciencedir...
Low-level lead exposure and mortality in US adults: a population-based cohort study www.thelancet....

[@jamesgilmore8192]

It is worth mentioning the Lanphear et al paper compares the 10th-90th percentiles for lead blood levels and shows the increased hazard ratio is similar to the current smoker category or male/female for the same adjustments. Although the effect doesn't "look" impressive because it doesn't increase linearly (as the models have a large number of adjustments), and this is in fact a large effect on all cause mortality.

[@barrie888]

My blood lead level is 3mcg /dL . As a kid I used to scavenge lead balance weights fallen off car wheels from the roadside. Then smelt them down and pour into fishing sinker moulds. Used to be covered in lead dust. And of course boomers grew up with leaded petrol. Anyway I pay attention to my sources tea chocolate spices now trying to not to add to the lead burden

[@arihaviv8510]

It is a big problem for dark chocolate that people are eating for health reasons

[@YesPlease1]

I posit that mercury isn't shown to be statistically significantly harmful in this study simply because there isn't much of it in the blood. It's rapidly taken up by tissues, making measuring blood levels meaningless

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Interesting, thanks @YesPlease1

[@nuovoaccount998]

yes, it's mainly neurotoxic to the brain

[@NYGuy2000]

The vaccine makers don't want anybody to raise mercury concerns.

[@ChessMasterNate]

@@nuovoaccount998 I think it is mostly exaggerated. There is certainly a level that is too much. That is where we get the term "mad hatter." The people that made hats out of leather in the past were exposed to a lot of mercury and went insane regularly. The reason I think it is exaggerated is because the FDA? advised pregnant women to avoid many of the most nutritious kinds of fish because of mercury in the fish. But it was not science based advise. When they actually looked at the IQs of children from mothers who ate swordfish and the other "tainted" fish during pregnancy, they were higher than the children whose mothers avoided the fish. This may not be the study I saw, but it has the same result: "Maternal prenatal blood mercury is not adversely associated with offspring IQ at 8 years provided the mother eats fish: A British prebirth cohort study." If mercury in the typical levels from eating fish did not harm developing embryos, it is unlikely to cause harm in adults. That may not be true with older adults, as lots of systems work more poorly. That said, when I was a college student I would eat one of those big Costco cans of tuna (1.88kg) every two days, and at some point it started to make me sick. But that is a pretty atypical consumption pattern. Also, if you sweat a lot, the mercury can leave the body that way. So maybe you can eat a lot of tuna/salmon/sardines if you sauna every day?

[@AlexM-jd2ro]

Yes, it is correct...24 hour urine would be a better test

[@jamesgilmore8192]

Aluminium is also worth considering, HR's around 1.5. And you eat canned sardines, so there could be a potential source.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Definitely, thanks James

[@etie_lahat]

Two thoughts spring mind: 1. Mercury is being offset by omega-3s benefit. I've also seen research supporting that. 2. Lead, omg, what an easy low hanging fruit to pick, when it comes to all cause mortality. Equal to raising your vo2max X3 in some cases, but so much easier to treat.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Thanks @etie_lahat. Can you please post paper links showing that blood mercury levels are offset by O3s? If YT blocks the links, please post the study titles...

[@brendansully12]

This sucks. After a year of being unemployed I just started working in a lead oxidation mill last month. Everyone else in the maintenance department has a lead count over 20 micrograms per deciliter. Guess I gotta keep looking...

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Hi @brendansully12, I'd measure blood lead levels, maybe you're good. If not, coming up with a strategy to reduce risk would be the next step...

[@nuovoaccount998]

i'd change job

[@rhyothemisprinceps1617]

The Nutrition Facts channel has a video series on lead exposure and what to do about it. It's a vegan / WFPB channel, but the series is not overly preachy & has a lot of useful info.

[@ChessMasterNate]

There may be ways to manage it. Daily sauna. Good hydration. Lots of clean calcium like dairy. A good mask worn right. Perhaps something on your skin to block absorption? Not sure what. Regular testing. But you are probably right. It may be very difficult to get to that .8 micrograms per dL Probably impossible, if lactose intolerant. One of lead's major harms is that it depletes glutathione. In theory, boosting glutathione with GlyNAC (glycine and n-acetylcysteine), may help prevent some of that harm. Regular plasma donation may help. No one is going to get that lead tainted plasma. They clean it up and turn it into medications, generally. It is very easy to end up tainting your family with lead also, just with your clothing, shoes, etc. You also may need to clean your vehicle well. Yeah. Starting to think, hopless. Lead should not even be used for anything anymore. There are better alternatives for every use. 90% is used for starter batteries and other lead-acid batteries. We can replace those with lithium combined with ultracapaciters. There are types of lithium batteries which can be fully depleted with no harm to the battery. That would probably be best. Such batteries would be more expensive but would also last much longer and thus would be less likely to strand you somewhere. For weights or shielding, bismuth or bismuth alloys can be substituted. Copper works fine for bullets/shot. It may be lighter, but the gunpowder will accelerate it faster, making up for most of that. Alternative fuels for aircraft have already been made. Just regulatory obstacles there. Should be banned in hair dye. Should be banned in brass. As an impurity in zinc where that zinc will be used in galvanization, the standards should be raised substantially. The exceptions for leaded paint must be removed (road lines, art), ban on use in stained-glass, and well everything else as well. No lead keels, shot puts or other sports equipment. You name it. There is always an alternative. Just pull the plug on lead.

[@ChessMasterNate]

Good video. Two other elements should be looked at: arsenic and fluoride. Both of these are in our food. Fluoride is mostly in grapes and grape products because the insecticide all the vineyards use is cryolite (Na3AlF6). Also, what do you think of the study: "Low-level lead exposure and mortality in US adults: a population-based cohort study" in the Lancet Public Health, in 2018? That is what made me cut out the foods with more lead. That is a huge amount of deaths. Most of the lead in our bodies is in our bones. If our bones lose density, that can elevate blood lead levels. That can also be released in other ways, like when a bone is broken. So that may contribute to the high rate of death after an elderly person falls and breaks a hip or femur. They get both the subsequent inactivity shrinking muscle and loss of bone, but also the exposure from the break itself. 10 years after a break, 11% were still alive. In age matched people, 32% were alive (just reading the graph in figure 1. of "Factors associated with mortality after proximal femoral fracture" June 2023).

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Thanks @ChessMasterNate. The study that you cited is in the video...

[@newdata]

yeah. that why when I eat sardines , I carefully remove the bones

[@rhyothemisprinceps1617]

Note that blood lead levels can vary seasonally, since it increases with bone resorption which typically increases in winter. This might not be an issue for ML since he minds his vitamin D level and does weight training. Still, if it were me I'd want to test in February or March.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Thanks for the insight, @rhyothemisprinceps1617. Can you please post papers showing seasonality for blood lead levels? I can measure in winter, too, no worries

[@rhyothemisprinceps1617]

@@conqueragingordietrying123 "Season modifies the relationship between bone and blood lead levels: the Normative Aging Study" 2002, by Oliveira, et al.

[@nbtc539]

Would be interesting if someone tested lead levels in various foods. I drink quite a lot of green tea so I’d be curious

[@tadmarshall2739]

I would expect a correlation between age and lead levels. Did your analysis account for this (I.e. multiple regression)? Cigarettes are a good source of cadmium. Another confounder?

[@bhut1571]

Thanks. Sadly we had bags of lead wire-seals for wires in the basement when growing up in our grandparents home. I found that they tasted good when chewed. I did this for a number of years while still quite young.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Uh oh, but you may be ok in terms of blood levels years later...

[@ChessMasterNate]

That will be in your bones. I would skip most foods that have more lead. Try to drive your blood lead levels very low. This will allow the lead to be leached out of your bones...and it can leach out. It will probably take decades. If you don't, there is a good chance that lead will start coming out at a high rate when your bones lose density with age. Keep an eye on your blood pressure, and kidney health, especially. But there is a strong link to heart disease as well. Chelation will likely pull it out too fast, putting too much in your bloodstream at once. But maybe an expert can guide you on that option. If you grow any of your own food, test the soil. And don't use a fertilizer that has bone meal in it. Best not to live within a half mile of an airport that serves small aircraft, and perhaps a mile or more directly under the approach or under where they take off. Small propeller aircraft still use leaded fuel. And live a half mile away or more from an outdoor firing range. Wash your hands after touching your keys. They put lead in the brass so it extends the life of their tools. You probably want to be religious about resistance training even into your 80s and 90s, try to keep those bones dense. A modest amount of higher impact is better for bone density, even if a little worse for joints. And try to work all the muscles, even the rib cage muscles. Try not to break any bones. That can release lead at a high rate. Dance (I'd include martial arts and gymnastics as options, but you can break something that way too), and maintaining core strength, are important to prevent falls. Get cataract surgery earlier, rather than procrastinating, if and when your lens gets cloudy. You have to see clearly to avoid tripping. Don't skimp on lighting. I wear those lights that go on a band around my head, anytime I go where things are not well lit. There is one in my soda holder in my van. Several other places. And if you are a dog person, after they age out, don't replace them with large dogs. They cause so many broken hips and femurs. Not intentionally, they just get excited, and you get tripped. This is not actually advice, because I am not allowed to do that, just thoughts.

[@SladkaPritomnost]

Unfortunately cadmium and lead are quite present in most chocolate bars.

[@lildarkd]

Gawd, I eat too much dark chocolate but I just can't stop. A bar a day gives me energy and makes me feel fantastic.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

The only way to know would be to measure blood levels...

[@jackbuaer3828]

Yet, look at the studies regarding all cause mortality and people that eat dark chocolate. My recollection is that chocolate eaters tend to do better than non-chocolate eaters.

[@justsaying7065]

A bar of dark chocolate has a lot of calories. Maybe too much to eat a bar a day.

[@jamesgilmore8192]

Can't stop...there's a fair amount of iron in dark chocolate, perhaps you can't stop for a reason.

[@nuovoaccount998]

I found interesting how cadmium and lead had such different effects in men and women respectively. Anyhow you just pay 10$ for the blood draw that's nice, but for the exams? I feel on the physician drama haha, been there. I hope you will do mercury too beside lead given your fish consumption

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Lead and cadmium are both significantly associated with all-cause mortality risk in men and women... Yep, $10 draw fee, but also whatever tests that I'm measuring on that day, too. No other costs, no exam.

[@bambigrage8464]

Can you give tips on lowering lead levels?

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Not yet-I'll need to read up on that. Got some papers to suggest?

[@hvglaser]

Microplastics will be this generation’s lead (or asbestos)

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Yep, but it may not be 1 or the other, but both microplastics and heavy metal toxicity

[@ChessMasterNate]

Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants and organophosphate pesticides cost Americans almost 270 million total IQ points. A little of that was heavy metals. A lot of IQ points people never get, due to suboptimal prenatal nutrition.

[@jamesgilmore8192]

I would say microplastics have been a problem for a long time now, yet lifespan is still increasing globally. They seem to be more silent than other issues. Does anyone know of any acute micrplastic studies?

[@whatthefunction9140]

Lead tastes so good though.

[@DessicatedCadaver]

I put cacao powder in the bottom of the coffee paper filter, and the coffee ground on top, so the drip coffee has cacao in it, filtered through the paper filter. Does the paper filter filter out heavy metals like lead and cadmium? I try to buy cocao powder that has low heavy metal count, but there is a lot of confusion about which brand is the safest, and apparently that changes through time. My aim is to let the beneficial cocoa polyphenols drip into the coffee, but not let the heavy metals through. I guess my next step is a blood test for heavy metals.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

It sounds like a good approach, but yep, the only way to know is to test

[@jamesgilmore8192]

That's going to depend on what form the lead is in, say as a small metal particle that can make it through the paper filter, or is it somehow bound to the cocoa. Or whether the coffee itself is somehow filtering the lead. Its hard to know. Also keep in mind that low levels are literally everywhere now and its hard to avoid altogether.

[@Blkpll]

Why are the tests on Ulta not available to New York? Again…

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Hey @Blkpll, sorry to hear that. Marek Health might be useful: marekdiagnostics.com/

[@justsaying7065]

It’s due to different state regulations.

[@peterz53]

Thanks for study Michael. My 2022 0:31 Pg was 0.7 ug/dL as part of a metals panel from Quicksilver Scientific. But had elevated cadmium which I haven't sort yet. Retesting soon. BTW, in exploring benefits of plasma donation there was a study which showed that routine donation will lower "forever" chemicals. PFAS. So likely will lower heavy metals. I've been doing plasma donation for 2 years (about 27 liters so far). But if you sweat a lot due to exercise or sauna you can lower toxin burden of certain chemicals (e.g. benzene) but not sure about metals. Some evidence that some plasma constituents make their way through interstitial spaces and out through sweat but this seems to be an understudied area.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Thanks @peterz53, and as usual, you're ahead of the testing game! Keep me posted on reducing cadmium.

[@brendansully12]

Great comment! I did a little googling about heavy metals in sweat and came across this, thought you might be interested. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8998800/

[@hopeforescape884]

Cool, I had been donating plasma 2 times a week every week for the last two years to support myself through undergrad (I got $140/week), but since I just graduated and grad school waves your tuition if you TA I was thinking of stopping. But I might keep doing it. I wish I had a blood metal panel from 2 years ago to compare to now to see if it had an effect :( On the other hand my LDL and triglycerides, but also total protein and albumin, were all lower since I had pre-donation test for those. It might also aid in weight loss since your body seems to use 400 ~ 600 calories to replace the lost plasma, from what I have heard.

[@peterz53]

@@hopeforescape884 In my case I use the local blood bank which only allows 1x/4wk donation. But they also draw about 50 mls of whole blood each time for testing as the plasma goes to patients. My ferritin tends to be low without donation and dropped very low with donation so now I supplement Fe a couple days a month. Low lipids is a good side effect, but lower albumin is not depending on how low yours goes. My albumin usually bounces back in 3 to 4 days. Being young you may not get the possible many other benefits someone older like me night reap (ref. 2020 and 2022 Conboy papers).

[@rhyothemisprinceps1617]

Sweating can lower lead levels. Some foods (e.g., cilantro) contain chelating agents, but surprisingly there don't seem to have been any human trials on them for lowering lead levels. (please correct me if I'm wrong - I would like to be wrong about that). There have been rat studies, though, showing benefits from cilantro/coriander in lead exposure.

[@justsaying7065]

One commenter said garlic helps. Do you eat garlic?

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Rarely, but if there are published studies, hopefully they can be posted here

[@justsaying7065]

Peter Rogers MD just did a video about you.

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Ok, he's not the first, and won't be the last... lol, this video is a rehash of my diet from like 2y ago, it's not the same

[@GaiasFleas]

Do you recommend avoiding cacao then?

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Nope, blood testing as the primary strategy. If lead levels are low, then cacao is likely ok

[@safffff1000]

Test, 2 comments I just posted didn't work, no bad language or anything like that just a reference to something could help

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

Hmm, YT is weird with comments. Can you please post the paper's title?

[@safffff1000]

@@conqueragingordietrying123 It was about the benifits of using clay to draw out heavy metals from the body, it listed a name and books name on it

[@safffff1000]

@@conqueragingordietrying123 Again I just answered you and no post

[@safffff1000]

@@conqueragingordietrying123 Do you have a way of contact

[@conqueragingordietrying123]

@@safffff1000 That's strange-if you post the title, not the link, it should work