Zeolite detox myths busted: In lab tests, zeolites do NOT bind with aluminum, lead, uranium, mercury or cadmium... only CESIUM

Monday, November 02, 2015
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: zeolite myths, heavy metals removal, daily detox

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(NaturalNews) Much of what we've all been told about zeolites over the years is a myth. Sadly, even articles published on Natural News have inadvertently repeated this myth, although I am now directing staff to update all zeolite articles on Natural News to reflect the latest scientific findings I'm releasing on the public record.

Last week, I released ICP-MS laboratory analysis data that show the elemental composition of zeolites. Those data reveal something astonishing: zeolites which are consumed as a daily dietary supplement by health-conscious people may contain anywhere from 10ppm to 60ppm lead, plus another 24,000 - 30,000ppm aluminum.

Given that many people are consuming 15g daily of this zeolite powder, they are effectively swallowing 750 micrograms of lead each day, along with as much as 450mg of aluminum daily.

Laboratory testing reveals metals claims to be bogus

The claim by zeolite manufacturers and marketers has long been that zeolites absorb these metals and remove them from the body. Thus, we were all told, even if zeolites contained some lead, that wouldn't be a problem because zeolites remove lead, we were promised.

After months of testing zeolites in the laboratory using a high-end Agilent 7700x ICP-MS instrument, I can now publicly state that zeolites are NOT effective at capturing or eliminating most heavy metals, including lead, uranium, mercury and cadium. Zeolites are also NOT effective at binding with aluminum.

See ICP-MS laboratory data below for full details. (And Click here for a tour of our lab website.)

We've all been hoodwinked by the zeolite industry

When it comes to zeolites, I believe we've all been hoodwinked by the zeolite industry and its marketers -- people who tend to just repeat the same myths they've heard from everybody else, usually without conducting any original research themselves. Even more worrisome, if I hadn't built the Natural News Forensic Food Lab and conducted this original research myself, none of what I'm about to tell you would have been made public by the zeolite manufacturers and marketers themselves.

It turns out that even zeolite consumers had no idea zeolites contained high levels of lead and aluminum. Most consumers have simply taken it on faith that zeolite marketers are telling the truth. The idea that "zeolites detox your body from heavy metals" is very nearly a truism mantra across the natural products industry. But it turns out to be no more true than the Flat Earth theories currently circulating across the 'net.

Zeolites turn out to be really, really bad at accomplishing the very thing they're promoted for: removing heavy metals from the body. The only well-known element zeolites are really strong at capturing and adsorbing is CESIUM, an element with several radioactive isotopes that often contaminate soils and water following nuclear disasters (Fukushima, Chernobyl). Cesium isotopes include 137 and 134, although 137 is by far the most worrisome and persistent in the environment (with a half life of around 29 years, if memory serves me correctly).

It seems I may very well be the only person in the world who has rigorously tested the binding ability of zeolites to various toxic elements and heavy metals in the laboratory. And here, I'm going to share the results with you that show zeolites to be all but worthless with most elements.

Metals Capturing Capacity

As you may recall, I pioneered a digestion simulation methodology that allowed me to test the ability of any substance to bind with toxic elements and heavy metals. Click here to watch my Metals Capturing Capacity video, or click here to see all my laboratory videos.

This process begins with placing the test substance into gastric acid that's almost identical to human gastric acid found in the stomach. The gastric acid solution is then spiked with a known concentration and quantity of selected heavy metals in aqueous form.

From there, the substance is gently rocked for several hours to simulate the churning of the stomach. During this process, some test substances will ABSORB toxic elements (or adsorb, in the case of zeolites), while others will EMIT toxic elements.

For example, I have long established that chlorella, peanut butter and strawberries are all very effective at trapping mercury. I've also found that certain sources of plant-derived calcium are extremely good at capturing lead and cadmium. In fact, this is how I invented my patent-pending Heavy Metals Defense formula shown at this site. As you can see from the laboratory results published there, this formula results in a 99.9% reduction of lead concentration in the gastric acid digestion simulator.

You might wonder, then, what percentage of lead reduction do zeolites accomplish in lab testing?

ZERO.

In fact, slightly worse than zero. Zeolites actually increased the lead concentration of the gastric acid:

Starting concentration of lead, analyzed via ICP-MS: 10,871ppb

Resulting concentration lead, after digestion with zeolites: 11,011 - 11,600ppb depending on the zeolite brand.

In other words, zeolites INCREASED the lead concentration, adding to the amount of lead in the gastric acid. (That's because zeolites contain a high concentration of lead and they can actually release lead during digestion.)

It's the same story for cadmium

Starting concentration of cadmium, analyzed via ICP-MS: 10,524ppb

Resulting concentration of cadium, after digestion with zeolites: 10,586 - 11,867ppb

The cadmium went UP!

Here's the result for arsenic:

Starting concentration of arsenic: 10,836ppb

Resulting concentration of arsenic, after digestion with zeolites: 9,028 - 11,198ppb

At this point, you might think something is wrong with my methodology. Why isn't zeolite adsorbing anything and reducing the concentration of potentially toxic elements?

It turns out that zeolites are very, very good at binding with CESIUM!

Starting concentration of cesium: 10,927ppb

Resulting concentration of cesium, after digestion with zeolites: 1,461 - 1,930ppb

In other words, zeolites adsorbed nearly 87% of cesium. So we know the process of measurement works. This is fully consistent with the known scientific literature on zeolites being used to help decontaminate soils surrounding nuclear accidents. The zeolites "trap" the cesium-134 and cesium-137, blocking it from being taken up by plant roots and contaminating the food supply.

But the zeolites I tested didn't reduce lead, cadmium or arsenic at all. In fact, they increased the concentration of those metals.

It is my belief that zeolite marketers started with the verifiable, true fact that zeolites adsorb cesium, then they generalized that to include "all heavy metals." This is how the myth was born. From there, the myth got repeated over and over until everybody accepted it as a truism. But it isn't true in lab tests. The only element I could get zeolites to capture in an efficient way was cesium. For other elements, the results just weren't there.

Here's the really bad news: Aluminum goes off the charts

One of the many claims made by zeolite marketers is that zeolites also remove aluminum from the body. This is a claim that's even been repeated by guest authors whose articles have appeared here on Natural News.

Yet zeolites are made of very high concentrations of aluminum, and when you place zeolites in gastric acid (i.e. the human stomach), you get a huge increase in the aluminum concentration of the gastric acid.

In my tests, we started with an aluminum concentration of 12,248ppb. Here's what we ended up with after digestion simulation using gastric acid:

Zeolite brand #1: 257,773ppb of aluminum

Zeolite brand #2: 210,044ppb of aluminum

Zeolite brand #3: 184,452ppb of aluminum

In other words, zeolites caused aluminum to INCREASE by as much as 2,100%.

That's quite an increase of aluminum for a dietary supplement that claims to "detox" aluminum from the body.

By the way, for the purpose of laboratory methodology recordkeeping, the masses of zeolite used in these tests were:

Zeolite brand #1: 0.9997g
Zeolite brand #2: 1.0489g
Zeolite brand #3: 1.0074g

We've all been lied to about zeolites

My conclusion from this scientific testing simply cannot be overstated: We've been LIED to about zeolites.

Keep in mind that I say this at great personal cost and legal risk. Not only does this make Natural News look bad for publishing articles that previously repeated the zeolite myth I'm now shattering, but I already have one zeolite company threatening to sue me over these revelations. (No doubt more will threaten me soon, too.)

My commitment is to the truth, not to artificial protectionism of any particular industry or product line. In the same way that I talk about glyphosate found in foods, I'm also dedicated to talking about heavy metals found in dietary supplements.

At this point, it is my opinion that aside from the cesium-related claims, zeolites are being marketed with false claims that imply the substance detoxes your body from all heavy metals.

It is my opinion that the marketers of zeolites have perpetuated a series of false mythologies to profit from selling a product that actually increases the quantity of aluminum and lead being introduced to the body. The fact that zeolites are made with high concentrations of aluminum and lead is indisputable.

It is also my belief that all health-conscious consumers should immediately halt any dietary intake of zeolites right now, unless they are directed to consume zeolites by a qualified naturopathic physician for some emergency application such as accidentally swallowing cesium-137. Even then, that physician needs to read about these laboratory results because they, too, may have been misinformed about zeolites.

Supplement industry FAIL

What we are really dealing with here is a very popular dietary supplement that, in my view, may be substantially increasing the load of lead and aluminum among consumers who take that product on a daily basis (as directed on the labels).

Some of the marketing that has accompanied zeolites has been so outlandishly exaggerated and falsified that it really qualifies as fraud.

This was not apparent to me, of course, until I built a million-dollar laboratory facility and used it to test both the composition and function of zeolites. But now that I've done the research, I cannot deny the validity of the scientific results acquired via careful, meticulous testing methodologies.

The fact that I'm willing to go public with these findings is all the proof you need that I am committed to public health and safety for foods, drugs and dietary supplements as well. When I see a problem that I believe poses a potential risk to consumers, I make sure the lab tests are reproducible, then I go public with it to help raise awareness among consumers.

For the record, I do not sell zeolites as a dietary supplement. The closest I come is Cesium Eliminator which is combined with Heavy Metals Defense and is positioned for use only in extreme nuclear emergencies such as nuclear war. There is no financial motive for me to artificially attack the zeolite industry. In fact, it will probably cost me tens of thousands of dollars to defend myself against frivolous lawsuits that I expect will be filed by zeolite product manufacturers. This is definitely a case where "no good deed goes unpunished."

The reason I am not afraid to go public with all this, however, is because any competent laboratory in the world can reproduce my results. Whatever lawsuits are leveled against me will eventually be thrown out because you can't sue someone for reporting the truth as verified by competent labs.

If you've been taking zeolites, get your blood tested for lead and aluminum

I'm now officially encouraging zeolite consumers to have their blood tested for lead and aluminum.

Please share your results with me at Natural News, because if this is found to be widespread, we may be blowing the whistle on a dietary product that could be directly impacting the health of tens of millions of people... almost all of whom have been wildly misinformed about the composition and function of the product they are taking.

Zeolite manufacturers should voluntarily halt sales

Zeolite manufacturers and marketers, upon reading this, should voluntarily halt all sales of zeolite products. If they wish, they can hire other ICP-MS laboratories to reproduce my own findings and thereby prove to themselves that the information I'm releasing to the public is accurate and sincere.

If a dietary supplement company is acting with integrity and safety for their consumers, they would immediately halt sales of any supplement found to contain such high concentrations of lead and aluminum, especially when that item is positioned as a "daily detox" that promises to remove lead and aluminum.

You will now be able to tell exactly which supplement manufacturers are more interested in profit than public safety by observing who continues to sell zeolite. Those are the ones that will openly LIE about the composition of their products. It has already begun, in fact. One Natural News reader forwarded me a message from a zeolite company who claims their product has "no lead" in it because there were assured it was "100% pure."

This is, of course, complete nonsense. All zeolites contain lead and aluminum. There's no such thing as a lead-free, aluminum-free zeolite, especially since zeolites are made of aluminum.

Just as happened when I published heavy metals laboratory results for contaminated rice protein products, I now fully expect to witness a wave of total lies, defamatory attacks and fraudulent claims from the zeolite industry.

Now you know why my laboratory is in a private location and why myself and other lab technicians are armed at all times with active firearms. Telling the truth is a very risky business these days, and what I've come to learn the hard way is that certain fringe elements of the natural products industry can be just as sleazy and dishonest as the pharma and vaccine industries.

Nevertheless, the science speaks for itself. If you are eating zeolites, you should probably stop. And if you are selling zeolites, you should probably stop that, too.

If you don't stop, you will probably sooner or later find yourself in a class action lawsuit from all your own customers... or shut down by the FDA or FTC, for that matter.

Don't blame me for this. All I did was analyze the stuff you've been selling and publish the results. Shame on you for selling lead and aluminum to your own health-conscious customers and calling it a "daily detox."