Detox or Not Detox

How to solve a problem like aluminium

Many will have their own definition of ‘detox’. To me it suggests the removal, and therewith detoxification, from the body of something, natural or unnatural, that is resulting in toxicity. Detox is a veritable and burgeoning industry practiced both at home and in clinical settings. So, what about aluminium. Can aluminium in the body be the focus of a successful detox strategy. You may be surprised to hear that the answer to this question is no, with one notable exception. To my knowledge the peer-reviewed scientific literature does not report any research in humans where ingestion or application of a drug or compound resulted in the unequivocal removal of aluminium from the body, for example in urine. Notorious in this respect is the widespread use of the calcium/magnesium chelator EDTA. Published research does document increases in urinary excretion of aluminium following detox using EDTA. What this research does not tell you is that many if not all of the EDTA preparations used routinely in this form of detox are heavily contaminated with aluminium. I know this because a number of clinicians sceptical about their own data following EDTA infusions in patients asked me to measure the aluminium content of the EDTA solutions used routinely in their clinics. They were right to be sceptical. Each bottle of EDTA, usually 10 or 20 mL volume, contained between 50 and 250 micrograms of aluminium. All of this aluminium was being infused into the bloodstream of individuals receiving this form of detox. Those clinics where urinary aluminium was measured following detox were finding significant increases in urine aluminium. These data are regularly interpreted as the success of the method and this has lead to some of these data being published following peer review. I am not aware of the source of aluminium found in contaminated EDTA preparations. However, those EDTA solutions that included calcium were the most heavily contaminated preparations. EDTA binds aluminium, its presence as a contaminant confirms this. However, EDTA is a poor competitor for binding aluminium in blood. As such its apparent success in facilitating the urinary excretion of aluminium should have been a red flag to those making such observations. It was, of course, to the colleagues who asked me to investigate this. I trust that they at least are no longer infusing their patients with EDTA. To do so would be ‘toxification’, increasing the body burden of aluminium, and not the stated aim of detox.

I will write about the ‘notable exception’ alluded to earlier in my next post.