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Heavy metals can be found in our environment and in everyday items such as food, drinking water, household items, and even makeup products (such as eyeshadows and pressed powders).Some heavy metals like iron and zinc are good for you in the right amounts.1 But others like lead and arsenic can be harmful even in small quantities.
Heavy metals exposure can lead to chronic conditions like Parkinson’s disease and cancer. It may also cause irreversible harm, such as liver or kidney failure.
These health issues may sound alarming, but there are steps you can take to significantly lower your risk for heavy metal poisoning.
You can ask a medical professional to help you identify heavy metals you may have been exposed to through urine and blood testing or other standard tests.
They can also guide you to limit your exposure to toxic metals.
If you can’t see a doctor anytime soon, heavy metal testing kits are practical and affordable alternatives that you can take at home.
You can’t use these tests to diagnose heavy metal toxicity. But they offer valuable insights, such as:
These tests can help you narrow down potential sources of heavy metals in your environment. That way, you’ll know what substances or environments to avoid.
We’ve carefully selected the top five heavy metal test kits for you to try.
KnowYourDNA is dedicated to providing readers with reliable information on at-home tests that help them achieve their health goals.
We picked heavy metal tests based on:
Our in-house medical experts ensure the accuracy of our information.
The LetsGetChecked Micronutrient Test reveals imbalances of the most important vitamins, minerals, and heavy metals needed by your body for maintaining good health.
Knowing which nutrients you lack and/or have too much of will help you determine the changes you need to make for better health, such as taking dietary supplements or eating healthier.
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The 5Strands test can assess your risk for nutritional imbalances, sensitivities, and toxicity when exposed to certain foods, nutrients, heavy metals, and other things in your environment, like pollen and animal dander.
It provides insights into your current diet and lifestyle by helping you identify factors you need to address or avoid because they might trigger symptoms, cause imbalance, or potentially harm your health.
I got one of 5Strands Delux Packages - which includes the Environmental Intolerance Test
Send in steps are very simple:
Overall, this is a very non-intrusive test and is easy to take. Once you've taken the test, you are emailed results (no dashboard). A sample pages of results looks like this:
5Strands suggests trying to eliminate Level 3 Intolerance first, and then moving to Level 2 if you are still experiencing issues.
The popular at-home health testing company, EverlyWell, has one of the more reliable heavy metals tests on the market.
Using a urine sample, EverlyWell can alert you to the presence of six commonly found environmental metals within your body.
These heavy metals could be found in many of the places you regularly visit, such as your job, home, or the places you shop.
The Heavy Metals Test will screen for four hazardous metals: arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and bromine. It also tests your levels of two essential trace minerals, selenium and iodine.
Additionally, your urinary creatinine levels will be checked.
Key Features:
ZRT Laboratory offers a heavy metals blood test ideal if you’re experiencing any heavy metal toxicity symptoms from recent exposure.
Their test results include a heavy metal panel that tells you how high your selenium, copper, cadmium, lead, zinc, magnesium, and mercury levels are.
While you’re supposed to have some zinc, copper, and selenium in your system, having high concentrations of these metals is potentially toxic. Meanwhile, any level of cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury exposure is toxic.
Exposure can lead to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. In children, behavioral and developmental problems may ensue.
Chronic exposure to these metals can lead to dangerous conditions, such as lead poisoning and arsenic poisoning.
Key Features:
Doctor Data’s heavy metals toxicity test will check your body for chronic exposure to toxic elements like arsenic, lead, mercury, and other toxins by using a strand of your hair.
The test can detect exposure to 31 different toxins, from recent exposures to up to six months before.
The kit comes with everything you need to collect and return your sample, including a prepaid return envelope.
Your test results will let you know how much of these toxins and minerals are present in your sample on a gram or microgram level.
Key Features:
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The best kit is the one that provides information that is most useful to you. To narrow down your choices, there are four things you need to consider:
The heavy metal tests covered on our list do one of two things: they either check your samples for the potential presence of toxins or assess your risk for metal poisoning.
You should take a test that measures the heavy metals in your body if you think you’re constantly exposed to these toxins.
But if you are simply curious about your risk for heavy metals poisoning and other health imbalances, you can take a test that determines your risk, like the 5Strands Comprehensive Test.
Most of the tests we featured check for toxic metals harmful to your health, such as arsenic poisoning, lead exposure, and mercury poisoning.
Others test for nutritional metals, which are naturally good for you but can be toxic in excess amounts.
You should pick a test that checks for toxic elements you’re most likely exposed to and/or nutritional metals you may be deficient in.
This depends on your risk factors, such as diet, lifestyle, and environment. Here are some possible scenarios:
Kits like the EverlyWell Heavy Metal Test do more than test for human exposure to toxic metals. They can also check for imbalances in vitamins and/or minerals.
If you think you have nutrient deficiencies or an excess of certain nutrients, these tests may help you identify other possible causes of your imbalance.
Heavy metal tests that offer guidance on your next steps are a huge plus. They enable you to take necessary actions and explore ways to improve your health.
The LetsGetChecked Micronutrient Test is our top pick because it includes professional guidance from a medical expert.
If your levels for certain metals are too high, one of the most important things you can do is determine their possible sources.
List down the items or environments you are frequently exposed to. Alternatively, you can ask your doctor to help you identify risk factors, such as:
In most cases, eliminating factors that expose you to a potentially toxic metal is enough to restore your health and prevent the development of severe health problems.
But if you have severe and life-threatening symptoms like difficulty breathing and an irregular heartbeat, you should seek immediate medical attention.
Your doctor may prescribe chelation therapy and give you medications that bind with heavy metals in the body so they can be flushed out of your system.
Additional treatments may also be given to relieve your symptoms.
Here are five scenarios where you may want to consider heavy metal testing:
Some people are more likely to be exposed to heavy metal pollution than others. This includes individuals who:
You should regularly test for heavy metals if you’re frequently exposed to them. This will help you evaluate and monitor your toxicity levels.
The signs and symptoms of heavy metal poisoning can vary depending on the type of metals and severity of your exposure.
Consider taking an at-home test if you have signs of mild toxicity. Heavy metal toxicity symptoms include:
People with severe symptoms like anemia, liver damage, kidney damage, and brain damage should visit a healthcare provider as soon as possible.
Doctors can perform a more thorough assessment and heavy metal blood tests to properly evaluate your condition.
Certain heavy metals occur naturally in the environment and may contaminate our food. Examples include arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium.
Studies show that compared to other types of food, seafood usually has higher amounts of toxic elements.4 Heavy metals are more commonly found in:5
If you follow a pescatarian diet or regularly consume the seafood listed above, you may want to have your heavy metal levels tested.
Mercury, lead, and cadmium poisoning are known to disrupt thyroid function.6
You should consider getting tested for heavy metals if you show symptoms of thyroid imbalance, such as:
Exposure to heavy metals can increase your risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and having a child with a birth defect or developmental problems.7
Pregnant women and women who plan to become pregnant may want to take a test to ensure they don’t have elevated levels of toxic heavy metals.
We’ll answer some of the most common questions regarding at-home heavy metal tests below:
All of the tests in our list involve the same basic steps.
First, you order your test and collect a sample when the kit arrives. Next, return your test sample to the company and wait for your results.
Each test may require different types of samples like blood, urine, or hair. Make sure to follow the instructions that came with the kit you ordered.
Most at-home heavy metal test kits cost $125 to $200.
No. Most insurance plans won’t cover at-home heavy metal tests.
Medicare will not cover most at-home heavy metal tests.
We value finding the best options for our readers, so we looked into the following criteria to determine the best at-home heavy metal tests:
Keep in mind that there's no one-size-fits-all heavy metals test. You need to evaluate them based on your needs and symptoms, if there are any.
Many of the tests we explored do overlap, so it's up to you to determine which one is the best fit.
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