Relationship Between High Blood Pressure & Lead

Here is one cause of high blood pressure or hypertension that you and your doctor may not have considered.  Lead toxicity.  The relationship between elevated lead levels and high blood pressure has been studied for the past decade or so but few doctors think to look for low level lead accumulation as a cause of hypertension.  Lead is one of the most common heavy metals that we are all exposed to on a day to day basis.  The lead that you are exposed to in your drinking water, air pollution or contact with Thomas the Tank Engine made in China from lead ladened paints accumulates over years and is often bound in the bone matrix.  Men and women with osteopenia (thinning of the bones) or osteoporosis (fragile bones) are often more at risk for lead exposure as the bones thin the lead that was bound there starts to be released into the tissues affecting areas such as your blood vessels, brain and immune system.  This is part of the reason why as you age your blood pressure tends to go up.  Here are some tips for you and your doctor....

• If you have hypertension, make sure that your doctor checks you for accumulated tissue stores of lead.
• Blood lead is not an adequate measurement of accumulated lead affecting blood pressure.  Make sure that your doctor not only checks your blood for lead but also does a urinary challenge of DMSA, DMPS or EDTA for lead and other heavy metals.  I usually do a 6 hour urine challenge for this.  Lead is not found significantly in blood unless you are currently being exposed to high amounts of it.
• EDTA, DMSA and DMPS all are excellent chelators of lead, thus being able to reverse or improve your hypertension symptoms.  Note: Although DMSA and DMPS are also excellent chelators of mercury as well as lead, EDTA does not chelate mercury well.
• High protein diets and alkaline diets reduce the retention of lead in the body.
• CoQ10, Vitamin E, the herb Hawthorne, L-arginine, omega 3 fatty acids are all helpful in managing hypertension naturally.
• Lead accumulation can take years.  You don't need to have known exposure to lead or a single encounter with lead to put you at risk for lead toxicity leading to hypertension.  You could have had many years of low level exposure.
• Common sources of lead include leaded gasoline, lead pipes, lead paint, lead solder, bullets, lead fumes from melting of lead.
• Chelation (safe method for removing heavy metals such as lead from the body) is an easy method to reverse your hypertension if heavy metals contribute to the blood pressure issues.  Make sure  you find a doctor who has good experience in this procedure, liver and kidneys need to be protected during this process.
• Prevent osteoporosis, this helps keep lead bound in the bones and thus not affecting your arteries or your other organs.  See the post on Vitamin D.

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