Low-Level Lead Exposure and Health Risks

Lead is one of the most widely used metals in the world, and although it is toxic, it has been incorporated into many different products, including paints, cosmetics, fuels, and more, for its unique properties, such as a low melting point and resistance to corrosion. However, lead persists in the environment and cannot be metabolized in the human body.¹ It can enter the body via a variety of routes; for example, particles from lead-based paint or housing renovation can adhere to food and be ingested, or industries that use lead in manufacturing can pollute the air and soil, exposing humans via the food chain.²

Global statistics from 2021 estimate that lead exposure accounted for nearly 1.5 million deaths, primarily due to cardiovascular effects.³ Further, exposure to this heavy metal reportedly accounted for more than 33 million years lost to disability worldwide in the same year.³

Lead can be absorbed by the intestine and through the skin, and almost 90% of it binds to red blood cell proteins.⁴ Once inside the human body, lead may travel to different tissues and organs, including the liver and kidneys, where it can cause damage to cells and tissues.^4,5

Lead Exposure & Chronic Disease

A 2018 study published in The Lancet Public Health suggests that of the 2.3 million deaths every year in the United States, about 400,000 are attributable to lead exposure, of which 250,000 are from cardiovascular disease.⁶ This estimate is about 10 times larger than previous approximations.⁶ A 2019 study in the US showed that lead exposure affects heart health in young and middle-aged adults (18-65 years), with higher exposure increasing with age and generally resulting in worse health outcomes.⁷

Lead in the blood has also been associated with decreased kidney function, increased blood pressure, and hypertension.⁸ Other conditions associated with lead exposure include:

• Peripheral arterial disease (i.e., the narrowing or blockage of the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs).⁶
• Kidney damage⁴ and chronic kidney disease.⁹
• Respiratory, neurologic, digestive, and urinary diseases.¹⁰
• Increased mortality risk from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.¹¹

Lead Exposure in Children

In children, even low levels of lead can result in behavioral and learning problems, slowed growth and development, hyperactivity, and lower IQ.⁸ Young children are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning because they absorb four to five times as much ingested lead as adults from a given source.³ In October 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated the blood lead level (BLL) value from 5 µg/dL to 3.5 µg/dL to identify those children with BLLs that are higher than most children’s levels.¹² With the new measurement, the CDC estimates that 2.5% of US children aged one to five years have BLLs above 3.5 µg/dL.¹²

It is interesting to note that while thousands of children in the US have elevated blood lead concentrations, many of them are asymptomatic.¹³ The primary concern in this group is that multiple meta-analyses have demonstrated that, even at low blood lead concentrations, there is an inverse relationship between blood lead concentrations and intelligence quotient (IQ) scores as well as markers of academic achievement.¹³

A Functional Medicine Approach

Researchers continue to learn a great deal about how toxins and toxicants affect us, where they originate, and how to improve our ability to detoxify in a toxic world. Understanding toxicity and taking practical steps to improve liver processes and detoxification are essential parts of any approach to health and well-being. In functional medicine, healthcare practitioners understand how exposures to environmental pollutants, heavy metals, and toxic chemicals play a critical role in health and disease. Through a collaborative patient-practitioner relationship, functional medicine clinicians assess a patient’s toxic exposures as well as their lifestyle factors to develop personalized therapeutic approaches that treat underlying conditions and decrease chronic disease risk.

Click below to find a functional medicine practitioner near you to learn more about a personalized whole health approach to prevention, health, and well-being.