If you’ve been following along, I’ve been writing about the mercury in amalgam fillings for a few posts now, and how that mercury is released into your body. But once it’s in your body, what’s the problem?

Research has shown that the mercury vapor that’s released and consumed is able to get past the protection of fatty membrane surrounding the cells in your body because the mercury vapor itself is fat soluble, or lipophilic. What this means is that mercury is able to settle down in all of the cells of the body with no trouble. Mercury is also attracted to the amino acids that have a high sulfur component, and this means that it is able to alter the function of proteins in the body because it will easily attach itself to this group, keeping necessary minerals from being able to attach as they should. The same thing happens with the enzymes in the body. Because of this, the body creates more free radicals, which can be the cause of varying diseases if they’re not removed, and mercury deprives the body of the antioxidants that are needed to remove them.

If these terms confuse you, let me recap: mercury is able to easily enter the fatty tissues of the body on the cellular level. In proteins, it takes the place of minerals like iron, zinc, copper, iodine, magnesium, etc., which are things your body desperately needs and cannot function well without, and it does the same with enzymes. As a result, there are more free radicals in the body, and free radicals are harmful if they’re not taken care of.

If you’d like more info on the scientific research that’s been done you can read more about it here, and next up I’ll address some possible results of this mercury buildup in the body.