Risks of High Levels of Mercury

Mercury is one of those elements we are told to be careful of, but the question remains why? To answer this, we first need to examine what mercury is and how it gets into the foods that we eat.

Mercury is a metal that comes in many forms. It is most commonly used for dental tools and manufacturing partials in factories but is predominantly present in the pollution we produce from emission gases.  When it rains, the water collects the metal and drains it in the same water. When it reaches the water, many fish absorb the element.

Now that we know what it is, we can look at the effect of having this metal in our system. Mercury directly affects our nervous system and heart.  Even small amount of mercury in infants can cause developmental issues. For this reason, women who are pregnant are not recommended to eat fish to ensure full nervous development of infants. In adults, it can weaken our immune systems and cause heart irregularities.

Some of you may be saying that our bodies will just digest the food and eliminate the Mercury – however, amounts greater then 40ml can stay in your system for 30-40 days making it very difficult for your body to quickly eliminate the element before it does damage.