Blog — Arsenic

Heavy metal exposure can have detrimental effects on a child's development and overall health. However, with the advent of Heavy Metals Testing Kits, parents now have a convenient and accurate method to assess heavy metal levels in their children's bodies. These testing kits utilize dried blood spots and dried urine spots, offering a comprehensive solution to evaluate exposure to a range of toxic heavy metals. In this article, we will explore the benefits of heavy metals testing for children, focusing on the 14 essential elements tested through the Heavy Metals Testing (Comprehensive Toxic and Essential Elements) Profile. Detection of Toxic...

By Dr Kate Placzek, ZRT Laboratory Influenced by our environment, we are constantly being exposed to elements, whether nutritional or toxic. They are a big contribution to the yin yang dualism of health and disease.  With heavy metals, contamination is so extensive nowadays that it is no longer a question of whether exposure took place, but rather what the level of exposure was or continues to be. Toxicity from low levels of exposure can lead to a wide array of neurological disturbances and can be much more insidious in presentation than acute toxicity, which is, in contrast, rather obvious in...

Urine, serum, plasma, whole blood, red blood cells, feces, hair, fingernails … the list goes on. How do you decide what biological sample(s) to use for element analysis? Can results be compared to scientific literature or do they have clinical significance? Is it possible for values to be elevated or low in one sample type and normal in another? Do test results indicate recent intake, body burden, acute toxicity, chronic toxicity, deficiency, or homeostatic regulation? These are just some of the questions facing a testing laboratory when they want to develop and validate essential and toxic element profiles that will...

In our current medical paradigm, screening for cancer is considered a preventive measure by virtue of providing an earlier diagnosis. Getting an early jump on a disease process like cancer makes treatment exponentially easier and outcomes generally better. Under the current guidelines, that early jump on prostate cancer starts at age 55 for men at low to moderate risk and 40-45 for men at high risk. It takes years for cancer to grow to a detectable point after the tumor's initial induction from a normal cell to a cancerous one. There's been a lot of research done to determine what...