Using Lactospore for Detoxification
Using Lactospore for Detoxification
Bacillus coagulans (marketed as Lactospore®) is a shelf stable probiotic, with clinically documented efficacy in supporting health and wellness.
Lactospore and Heavy Metals
In 2017, researchers set out to see if probiotics could reduce the impact of cadmium, a heavy metal that causes oxidative stress and has toxic effects in humans. The study investigated two probiotics, as well as the prebiotic inulin, in preventing the toxic effects of cadmium in rats.
Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into four groups: a control group; a group that received cadmium only; one that received cadmium along with Lactobacillus plantarum and inulin; and one group given cadmium along with Bacillus coagulans and inulin.
(Inulin is a soluble fibre which serves as a prebiotic, ensuring that the probiotics used can thrive and colonize. Of course, while not explained in the study, B. coagulans is closer to being a prebiotic than a probiotic. It is not a bacteria, but rather is a spore, and as such functions to elevate lactic acid levels in the gut, in turn feeding good bacteria, and allowing for the microbiome to rebuild an ideal mix of good bacteria.)
The rats were evaluated for “changes in oxidative stress, the levels of some biochemicals and enzymes of serum including SOD, GPX, MDA, AST, ALT, total bilirubin, BUN and creatinine, and also SOD level of livers were measured at day 21 and 42 of treatment.” (The study ran for 42 days.) The cadmium content of their kidneys and livers was also analyzed.
Results were positive: “This study showed that synbiotic diets containing probiotics (L. plantarum and B. coagulans) in combination with the prebiotic (inulin) can reduce the level of cadmium in the liver and kidney, preventing their damage and recover antioxidant enzymes (SOD) in acute cadmium poisoning in rat.” (Study)
Homeopathy
Further to the subject of cadmium removal, I have an older newsletter on the subject of using Homeopathy to remove heavy metals from the body.
From the newsletter: Another clinical study was done on mice, to test homeopathic cadmium and find out if it was protective. The study is titled “Comparative efficacy of two microdoses of a potentized homoeopathic drug, Cadmium Sulphoricum, in reducing genotoxic effects produced by cadmium chloride in mice.” It concluded that: “Both Cad Sulph-30 and 200 were able to combat cadmium induced genotoxic effects.”
A Quick Look at Cadmium
Cadmium is damaging to the bones, heart, kidneys, and lungs, while high exposure to cadmium can lead to lung and prostate cancer.
Cadmium is produced during the smelting of other metals, such as zinc, lead, and copper. It is most frequently used in the manufacture of nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries. It is also used in metal plating, some paints, plastics and fertilizers. Deadly levels of cadmium exposure occurs mostly in the workplace where cadmium products are made.
Among the general population, the worst source of cadmium is cigarette smoke, followed by eating cadmium-contaminated foods. Cereal grains and vegetables (especially potatoes and leafy vegetables) grown in soils contaminated with high levels of cadmium contribute to our toxic load. As well, phosphate fertilized soils contain higher levels of cadmium than unfertilized soils, thus some cadmium can be avoided by eating organically grown foods. With regards to animal foods, the kidneys and livers of animals, along with shellfish, can contain higher levels of cadmium than plant foods.
If you drink unfiltered tap water, you should be aware that cadmium can be released into drinking water from the corrosion of some galvanized plumbing and water main pipe materials. Furthermore, cadmium is present in agricultural, industrial, municipal, and urban runoff, and can contaminate water sources.
Another Heavy Metal
Again in 2017, a different group of researchers looked at the same probiotics (without the inulin), and sought to discover how they would fare against mercury. Once more, a rat model was used to evaluate the efficiency of Lactobacillus plantarum and Bacillus coagulans, this time against mercury-induced toxicity.
This time 48 rats were randomly divided into six groups: a control group; a group given only mercury; two groups each given only one of the two probiotics; and one group given mercury and L. plantarum, and one group given mercury and B. coagulans.
In this test the probiotics were administered for 48 days (the mercury injected once at the beginning of the study).
“Levels of mercury were determined using cold vapor technique, and some biochemical factors…were measured to evaluate changes in oxidative stress. Oral administration of either probiotic was found to provide significant protection against mercury toxicity by decreasing the mercury level in the liver and kidney and preventing alterations in the levels of Glutathione peroxidase and SOD.” (Study)
Homeopathy
In the aforementioned newsletter regarding Homeopathy and removal of heavy metals, I was unable to find a reference to homeopathic mercury being used this way. For this newsletter I searched outside of PubMed (my go to database) and was able to find such a study.
This was a randomized, double blind study of 52 people, designed “to evaluate the homeopathic medication action during mercury contaminated patients’ treatment, observing mercury concentration in different tissues”.
One group was given a placebo and the other group a mix of two strengths of mercurius solubilis (homeopathic mercury): 7 CH and 12 CH. (The study on homeopathic cadmium used strengths of 30 CH and 200 CH, both of which were effective.)
“By the end of the treatment it had a significant mercury hair level reduction in those individuals treated with homeopathic medication, beyond the presence of indications of the increased mercury urinary elimination and improvement of aspects of the quality of life as functional capacity, vitality and reduction of painful sensation. This study showed that mercury high-dilution (homeopathic) was effective in treating mercury contamination, without collateral effects as chemical agents.” (Study)
A Quick Look at Mercury
One medical database reports symptoms of mercury toxicity to include “hearing and speech difficulties, lack of coordination, muscle weakness, nerve loss in hands and face, trouble walking, and vision changes”.
Because mercury is neurotoxic, you can see why, in the natural healing field, mercury toxicity is associated with most neurological disorders including ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), MS (multiple sclerosis), Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and even just tremors.
Mercury pollution enters the atmosphere via coal burning and mining where it can be inhaled. Atmospheric mercury then settles in water, “where it is converted by microorganisms into organic (methyl or ethyl) mercury, which is ingested by smaller creatures which are eventually consumed by larger fish. Fish at the top of the food chain (e.g., tuna, swordfish, or shark) may concentrate considerable mercury in their tissues”.