Measure levels of environmental elements that can affect your overall health

What’s the difference between heavy metal blood testing and heavy metal testing in urine? A heavy metal blood test involves microscopic examination of blood cells to detect heavy metal poisoning, or it can make a direct measurement of the heavy metal concentration in a blood sample. In a urine-based metal toxicity test, heavy metal concentrations are measured directly in a urine sample. The Everlywell at-home Heavy Metals Test is a urine test, not a heavy metal blood test, so you don't need to collect a blood sample for this test.

What are heavy metals?

Heavy metals, which are not always metals at all but may be dense metal-like elements, are found naturally in the environment. They are also used widely in manufacturing and can contaminate soil, air, food, and water. As industrial pollutants, they may be highly persistent and concentrate in the environment. Some of them, such as selenium, are required in trace amounts by the body for normal function but can be toxic at higher levels. Significant concentrations of any of the heavy metals can be irritating or damaging to the body.

The Everlywell Heavy Metals Test measures your levels of several environmental heavy metals and for creatinine, which is used in this test as a laboratory control to ensure accuracy.

Test These Toxic Metals and Trace Minerals from the Comfort of Home

Arsenic

Arsenic can be found naturally throughout the environment, such as in ground water, air, natural mineral deposits, and soil. This toxic metal is also used in industrial processes and in various agricultural products like insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, wood preservatives, and dyestuffs.

Because of the role arsenic plays in industry and manufacturing, certain occupations can place workers at a greater risk of exposure to arsenic. These occupations include glass-making, ceramics, vineyard work, smelting, metallic ore refinement, pesticide use and manufacturing, wood preservation, and semiconductor manufacturing.

However, for most people who do not encounter these occupational hazards, diet is usually the main source of arsenic exposure. Fruits, fruit juices, and grains are the main food-based sources of arsenic. Rice and rice-based products can have especially high levels of arsenic because they often accumulate arsenic at a 10x higher rate than other grains, like wheat and barley.

Chronic (long-term) exposure to arsenic may lead to distinct skin diseases, such as arsenical keratinosis (precancerous skin lesions), and can increase the risk of skin cancers. Arsenic poisoning can also lead to constriction of blood flow, decreased nerve function, and lung, liver, kidney, bladder, and other cancers. If you believe you’ve been exposed, contact your healthcare provider immediately (they may recommend you take an arsenic test as soon as possible).

Mercury

Mercury is a heavy metal that's naturally found in the environment. It's also quite toxic to humans: long-term exposure can not only heighten the risk of cancer, but it can also damage blood vessels—which can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, and other organs.

Fish consumption is the main source of chronic mercury exposure. (Shark, swordfish, tile fish, and king mackerel are known to have an especially high mercury content.) Mercury naturally makes its way into water from the earth's crust, and it gradually moves through the food chain—first entering algae and bacteria, then fish and shellfish, and then humans. If you consume high amounts of seafood and shellfish, a mercury test kit to check your body’s mercury levels may help you understand if your diet is contributing to abnormal amounts of mercury.

Cadmium

Cadmium is used widely in industrial activities such as battery production. Long-term exposure to cadmium is associated with an increased risk of cancer, and excess cadmium builds up in organs like the liver and kidneys—which can cause these organs to stop working properly. If you may have been exposed to high levels of this toxic metal, be sure to contact your healthcare provider right away and consider taking a heavy metal poisoning test.

Inhalation of cigarette smoke is the most common source of exposure to cadmium, and smokers have levels of cadmium approximately twice as high as those of nonsmokers. You can also be exposed to cadmium by eating cadmium-rich foods like liver, mushrooms, shellfish, mussels, cocoa powder, and dried seaweed.

In the United States, it’s estimated that about 2 out of every 100 people have elevated cadmium levels. Metal workers and those involved in the manufacturing of batteries, plastics, and solar panels are especially at risk of cadmium exposure.

Bromine

Bromine has no known beneficial function in the body, and long-term exposure to bromine can lead to headaches, slurred speech, drowsiness, and impaired memory (among other consequences).

Bromine exists as a dark, reddish-brown liquid at room temperature. Found naturally in the earth's crust and in seawater, bromine is also used in chemical products like water disinfectants, pesticides, flame retardants, and even certain food preservatives.

Exposure to bromine can occur by drinking food or water contaminated with bromine, coming into direct contact with liquid bromine, and by breathing in the fumes of bromine gas. Our Heavy Metals test kit includes a bromine test so you can check your body’s levels of this toxic element.

Selenium

Selenium plays an important role in the body's defense against free radical damage. (Free radicals are unstable compounds that can form in the body and "attack" important parts of cells, like DNA.) Selenium is also involved in metabolism and immune system function.

Your body can't make selenium, so you get it from the food you eat. Selenium-containing foods include brazil nuts, seafood, organ meats and/or animals raised in regions with selenium-rich soil. Meat is generally a good source of selenium, while fruits and vegetables are usually poor sources of this key nutrient.

However, long-term exposure or acute ingestion (single exposure to high amounts of selenium in a short period of time) to high amounts of selenium can result in selenium poisoning-or selenosis. Signs of selenosis can include patchy hair loss, brittle fingernails with white spots on the surface, decreased cognitive function, nausea, fatigue, and a breath that has a garlic-like odor. The Everlywell Heavy Metals Test includes a selenium lab test so you can understand if your selenium levels may be too low or too high.

Iodine

Iodine is a mineral that’s essential to your health because your thyroid gland uses it to build important hormones. Taking an iodine test (included with the Heavy Metals Test) can help you check if your levels are within a normal range.

Your body can’t make iodine, so instead you get it from the food you eat. Common dietary sources of iodine include cheese, cow’s milk, eggs, seaweed (including kelp, dulse, nori), saltwater fish, and iodized table salt. If you think you aren’t getting enough iodine through your diet, talking with your healthcare provider and taking an iodine deficiency test may be some good next steps to take.

If you aren't getting enough iodine from your diet, your thyroid gland won’t be able to create enough of its hormones and send them throughout the body—which can result in a condition known as hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). But too much iodine can lead to an excessive amount of thyroid hormones, potentially causing hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid).

Why Take a Heavy Metals Test?

Anyone who's at risk of having been exposed to these environmental pollutants or simply wants to be sure the levels of all of their essential elements are where they need to be.

You might consider taking this heavy metal testing kit if you...

• Smoke
• Are or have been exposed to heavy metals through work, hobbies or dentistry
• Live in older homes or areas where metals may be present in drinking water and/or groundwater
• Have thyroid-related health issues
• Have health issues that may be a result of low or high levels of elements tested for in this at-home lab test

Symptoms of Heavy Metal Toxicity

Symptoms of heavy metal toxicity can include:

• Headaches
• Muscle weakness
• Abdominal pain
• Vomiting and/or diarrhea
• Rashes
• Poor coordination

The Everlywell test will provide tailored advice about how you can eliminate potential sources of harmful pollutants. If you have any deficiencies in essential elements, we will let you know so that you can share this information with your physician and help get you back on track.

It's always a great idea to share your results from your heavy metal toxicity test with your doctor, and this test can give you and your health professionals a head start.

Is there a home mercury test?

Yes, the Everlywell at-home Heavy Metals Test is an example of an at-home mercury test because you can check your mercury levels—as well as your arsenic, cadmium, bromine, selenium, and iodine levels—from the convenience of home (sample collection takes place at home, and is then sent to a lab for testing).

Is there a heavy metal poisoning test?

Heavy metal poisoning is a condition in which heavy metal exposure harms the body’s normal functions and results in symptoms. There isn’t a single test for heavy metal poisoning because diagnosing this condition requires positive results on lab tests, medical evaluation of physical signs and symptoms, and a known exposure to excessive heavy metal concentrations. If you may have been exposed, speak with your healthcare provider as soon as possible and consider heavy metals testing.

Taking the Everlywell at-home Heavy Metals Test is an easy, convenient way to check for elevated heavy metal levels—which can alert you to the possibility of heavy metal poisoning. However, it’s always a good idea to share and review your results with your healthcare provider so they can make a complete assessment and determine if you have heavy metal poisoning.