Comments on: Are blood mercury levels an important metric in autism?

By: Dedj

Dedj — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:55:58 +0000

Sounds dubious.

I’m also concerned about the lack of references and substantiating evidence for the following assertions:

“In either case, if the mercury is not eliminated then it will lead to oxidative stress. An important target organ of mercury regardless of form when it cannot be eliminated from the body is the brain.”

I’m also not sure why the Geiers were treated as a reliable source.

I’ve only skimmed the article, and I’m not an expert in this area, but unsubstantiated core assertions are enough to trigger warning signals in any topic.

I think I’ll await further discussion.

By: Renee Dufault

Renee Dufault — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:16:05 +0000

Blood mercury levels can be used to measure mercury exposure in cases of normal metabolism but mercury blood levels cannot be used to measure mercury bioaccumulation or oxidative stress in individuals who are unable to metabolize mercury. See new article published this week in Behavioral and Brain Functions Journal by Dufault et al entitled, Mercury exposure, nutritional deficiencies and metabolic disruptions may affect learning in children.

By: Renee Dufault

Renee Dufault — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:07:56 +0000

Blood mercury levels can measure mercury exposure if a person has normal metabolism but blood mercury levels can not be used to measure mercury bioaccumulation or oxidative stress resulting from mercury exposure. Autistic children are not able to metabolize mercury. For more information on mercury toxicity go to http://www.behavioralandbrainf.....ent/5/1/44

This link will take you to a newly published review article that has undergone intensive peer review. Make sure to sharpen your biochemistry skills! :-)

By: _Arthur

_Arthur — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:16:08 +0000

“The vast majority of the mercury (and/or aluminum) is NOT IN THE BLOOD. ”

Yes, but to be evacuated in urine or feces, they must transit by the blood to, say, be evacuated by the kidneys. Same thing for the hair.

As far as I know, chelation is supposed work on mercury in the blood, not on crypto-mercury hidden in the bones or in the big toe.

It would require a brand new biological hypothesis (which would have to be tested) to assert that mercury levels in the blood are not proportional to mercury in the body…

By: Joseph

Joseph — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:39:21 +0000

There’s a discussion on this at the autism.about.com blog. I suggested that another way to look at a study like this is as follows: Divide all the children in two groups: Those with highest blood levels of mercury, and those with lowest blood levels of mercury. (Mercury levels are roughly normally distributed.)

Why wouldn’t the group with highest levels of mercury in their blood have higher rates of autism? It would have to be because there’s no relationship there.

Mercury from food and the environment is reflected in blood mercury. This is well known. Higher blood mercury levels mean there’s been more exposure to mercury.

In fact, this H-P et al. paper not only contradicts DeSoto and others like that. It also contradicts ecological analyses like those by Palmer.

By: dr treg

dr treg — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:25:25 +0000

Medical Hypothesis is not a peer-reviewed journal and is described by Wikipedia as:
“Medical Hypotheses has been criticised for its lack of peer review and for its decision to publish several controversial articles. In what The Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre calls an “almost surreally crass paper”, two Medical Hypotheses authors posit that “mongoloid” is an accurate term for people with Down syndrome because those with Down’s share characteristics with people of Asian origin, including a reported interest in crafts, sitting with crossed legs and eating foods with MSG.[5] Other papers have presented masturbation as a treatment for nasal congestion.[6]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_Hypotheses
Unless the hypotheses are proved then that is all that they are. Although having said that, mercury may well cause an immunogenic response in the brain of genetically predisposed individuals i.e. mercury is not a poison but rather an immunogen.
Both lead and mercury induce glial cell activity and inflammation in the brain.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/si.....s=16898674
Perhaps blood mercury is too primitive a marker to measure in order to assess the mercury immunogen – autistic behaviour theory.

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