Foods for Lead Detox - Foods which Fight Lead Poisoning

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Foods for Lead Detox

This is an Alphabetical List of foods rich in the nutrients which fight lead poisoning and List of how those Nutrients help fight lead poisoning.

Collated by Elizabeth O’Brien with assistance from Swetha Lingala (14 February 2015), incorporating desktop research by Robert Taylor, for The LEAD Group Inc and other information from the fact sheets: Nutrients that reduce lead poisoning and Iron Nutrition and Lead Toxicity. Photographer: Catherine Sweeny, as well as selected information from the book: "Clean, Green and Lean: Get rid of the toxins" by Dr Walter Crinnion, John Wiley and Sons Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey 2010.

Naturopathic Physician Dr. Walter Crinnion highly recommends eating organic foods in order to stop adding toxic agricultural chemicals to your body and when possible buy local organic. If your organic food is being shifted across the country or across the world to you, a whole lot of diesel exhaust is spewed into the air along the way.

Foods which Fight Lead Poisoning

Anchovy (rich in Calcium)

Aniseed Seeds (fennel) (rich in Calcium)

Apple Sauce (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Apples (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body and are rich in Pectin)

Baby Capsicums (rich in Vitamin C)

Banana Capsicum / Banana Pepper in USA (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Beans (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Beef (rich in Zinc)

Blackberries (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Blackcurrant (rich in Vitamin C)

Blue Cheese (rich in Zinc)

Bok Choi Seeds (poppy sesame) (rich in Calcium)

Broccoli (rich in Calcium, Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Brussels Sprouts (rich in Vitamin C)

Cabbage (rich in Calcium)

Capsicum (Bell or Banana Peppers in USA) (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids, and rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Cashews (rich in Zinc)

Cauliflower (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Cheese (rich in Calcium)

Cherries (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Chinese Cabbage (rich in Calcium)

Chinese Spinach / Amaranth (rich in Calcium)

Citrus Peel* (super rich in Pectin)

Cocoa (rich in Zinc)

Coriander (rich in Calcium)

Corn Meal (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Crab (rich in Zinc)

Dates (rich in Zinc)

Dill (rich in Calcium and moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Egg Yolks (somewhat rich in Vitamin D)

Eggs (rich in Zinc)

Feijoa / Pineapple Guava (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Fish (rich in Vitamin D)

Garlic

Grapefruit (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Grapefruit Peel* (super rich in Pectin)

Green Tea (supports the liver in clearing toxics from your blood)

Guava (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Haddock (rich in Vitamin D)

Horse Radish (rich in Vitamin C)

Kaffir Lime / Makrud Lime (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Kale (rich in Calcium, Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Kiwi Fruit (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Kohlrabi (bulbs) (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Kohlrabi Leaves (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Lemon (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Lemon Peel* (super rich in Pectin)

Lentils (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Lime (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Linseed (rich in Zinc)

Liver (somewhat rich in Vitamin D)

Lychee (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Marmalade Peel* (super rich in Pectin)

Melons (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Milk (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine and Calcium, and rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Milo (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Mushrooms grown under ultraviolet light - not yet widely available (rich in Vitamin D).

Mustard Greens (rich in Calcium and Vitamin C)

Nuts e.g. Cashews (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Orange Peel* (super rich in Pectin)

Orange Pulp or Juice (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine and moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Oysters (rich in Zinc)

Papaya / Paw Paw in Australia (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Parsley (rich in Vitamin C)

Pears (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body and are rich in Pectin)

Peas (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Pecan Nuts (rich in Zinc)

Pine Seeds (rich in Zinc)

Plums (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Popcorn (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Poppy Seeds (rich in Zinc)

Pork (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Pureed Vegetables (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Radish (rich in Vitamin C)

Red Cabbage (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Red Pepper / Chilli Pepper (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Rice - Whole Grain Brown (eat daily to move toxics out of the body)

Rice (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Rosemary (enhances the clearance of toxics from your blood stream and protects your liver from chemical damage)

Salmon (rich in Calcium and Vitamin D)

Sardines (rich in Calcium and Vitamin D)

Scrambled Egg (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Sesame Seeds (rich in Zinc)

Silverbeet / Chard in Australia (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Snow Peas (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Squash (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Strawberries (moderately rich in Vitamin C and reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Thyme (rich in Vitamin C and Carotenoids)

Tofu (rich in Calcium)

Tomatoes (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Turmeric (enhances the clearance of toxics from your blood stream and protects your liver from chemical damage)

Watercress (moderately rich in Vitamin C)

Wheat Germ (rich in Zinc)

Whole Grain Bread (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Whole Grain Biscuits (rich in Vitamin B1 / Thiamine)

Wild Rice (rich in Iron if cooked in an iron pot)

Yoghurt (rich in Calcium)

Zucchini (reduce the recycling of toxics in the body)

Photos of Foods That Fight Lead Poisoning

Vitamin B1 / Thiamine rich foods.

Photo: Vitamin B1 / Thiamine rich foods.

Zinc rich foods.

Photo: Zinc rich foods.

Vitamin D rich foods

Photo: Vitamin D rich foods

Vitamin C rich foods. You need to eat four times as much to maximise Iron absorption if you cook these foods

Photo: Vitamin C rich foods. You need to eat four times as much to maximise Iron absorption if you cook these foods

Vitamin C moderately rich foods. You need to eat four times as much to maximise Iron absorption if you cook these foods.

Photo: Vitamin C moderately rich foods. You need to eat four times as much to maximise Iron absorption if you cook these foods.

Vitamin C and Carotenoids rich foods.

Photo: Vitamin C and Carotenoids rich foods.

Calcium rich foods.
Photo: Calcium rich foods.

These foods have their iron content more than doubled when cooked in an iron container without a protective surface.

Photo: These foods have their iron content more than doubled when cooked in an iron container without a protective surface.

How Specific Nutrients Fight Lead Poisoning

Vitamin C, Thiamine, taurine (a vitamin B6 / cysteine derivative), folate, vitamin B12, garlic and the amino acids methionine and glycine may offer significant advantages to lead exposed individuals with few risks. Calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium along with vitamins B6, D and E offer large advantages along with significant offsetting risks at high doses. Good intakes of phosphorus, magnesium, copper and glutamic acid (glutamate) offer possible smaller advantages with little risk. Curcumin, Pectin and cysteine offer possible significant advantages but their impacts are difficult to gauge. Melatonin may also have significant impacts but is only available from food in trace quantities. It must be emphasized that a combination of these nutrients is needed to offset lead’s diverse impacts, though if one were to nominate a single nutrient it would probably be vitamin C since, in spite of some inconsistent results, it has strong, widespread impacts combined with minimal risks for most individuals (the main exception would be individuals with high iron levels, since it increases iron absorption).

Vitamin B1 / Thiamine is linked to higher lead excretion, particularly from the brain.

Vitamin C has been consistently linked to lower blood lead levels and reduced organ damage. Vitamin C has been used in chelation therapy in naturopathic lead treatment, though experimental results on Vitamin C’s ability to increase lead excretion have not been consistent.

Vitamin D can play a role in decreasing the quantity of lead stored in the bone.

Calcium supplements reduce blood lead during pregnancy, thereby reducing lead concentrations in the newborn. The continuous maintenance of Calcium levels is important for individuals with high lead exposures, to reduce brain and organ toxicity caused by the ongoing release of lead from the bone.

Low Iron levels are associated with higher blood lead levels.

Zinc is a key nutrient in reducing lead absorption and has positive impacts on the haem / heme synthesis pathway and has significant protective impacts on kidney and liver function.

Other nutrients that have influence on lead level are Methionine, Glycine, Curcumin, Carotene and Pectin, and nutrients found in Garlic.

From animal studies there are indications that Garlic could reduce blood and tissue lead levels, probably because it contains a wide range of sulphur-based compounds essential for amino acid construction and antioxidant function, including Methionine.

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The LEAD Group Inc. Fact Sheet Index

NSW Lead Reference Centre and NSW Government Publications On this site

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