Using Nutrition to Fight Lead Poisoning

Good Nutrition is not a cure or a prevention for lead exposure, but healthy food can make it harder for lead to enter a child’s body. Lead sources can include deteriorated paint, soil, water from lead pipes or fixtures. 

Here's how nutrition can help. 

The key nutrients that reduce lead absorption appear to be vitamin C, calcium, iron and, to a lesser degree, zinc and phosphorus. Dietary deficiencies in any of these can increase lead absorption, though supplementation of individuals with already high levels of these nutrients in their diet may not have much impact on lead absorption. Further, since these minerals compete with, or alter lead absorption during digestion, taking concentrated supplements at one point of time, unless you are deficient in that particular nutrient, may not affect continuing lead absorption, once the supplements have been processed through a particular stage of digestion. Vitamin D and folate (vitamin B9) can actually increase lead absorption, but have offsetting advantages: vitamin D can play a role in decreasing the quantity of lead stored in the bone, while folate seems to increases excretion more than it increases absorption.

The Sources of Iron, Calcium, and Vitamin-C include:

Foods with Iron

● Lean red meats, fish, and chicken

● Cereal products: fortified and without added sugar

● Oatmeal Dried fruits (raisins, prunes)

● Beans, seeds and nuts 

 Foods with Calcium include:

● Milk, Cheese, Yogurt

● Non Dairy milk which is fortified with iron.

● Green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, and collard greens

Foods with Vitamin C 

● Oranges, 

● Grapefruits, 

● Tomatoes

● Green peppers