Comprehensive Heavy Metals Test: Toxic and Nutrient Elements

Heavy metals are everywhere — in your water, your food, the air you breathe, and possibly your own body right now. Mercury from fish. Lead from old pipes. Cadmium from cigarette smoke or contaminated soil. Arsenic in rice. These aren't rare exposures. They're everyday realities for most people living in the modern world.

Heavy metal accumulation happens slowly and quietly. You don't wake up one day feeling poisoned. Instead, you gradually notice your energy isn't what it used to be. Your thinking feels slower. Your mood shifts for no clear reason. Small symptoms stack up over months or years until you finally decide something must be wrong.

Heavy metals don't just cause problems on their own, they also push out the essential minerals your body needs to function. Mosaic’s heavy metals test reveals both sides of this equation. It measures toxic metals like mercury, lead, and cadmium while also evaluating essential nutrients like zinc, magnesium, and selenium. Different testing methods (urine, blood, hair, stool) show different timeframes of exposure and help your practitioner understand both your toxic burden and your nutritional status.

Understanding Heavy Metals and Essential Elements

What are heavy metals?

Heavy metals are elements that can accumulate in your body and become toxic over time. Unlike nutrients your body needs, these metals serve no biological purpose. They only cause harm. Common toxic metals include mercury, lead, cadmium, aluminum, and arsenic.

The problem is that these metals usually don't leave your body, but rather accumulate in your organs, bones, and tissues. Over time, even low-level exposure can build up to levels that interfere with normal body function.

Why essential elements matter too

While toxic metals are the villains, essential elements are the heroes your body needs to function properly. These include zinc, magnesium, selenium, copper, chromium, iron, and others. They're critical for enzyme function, hormone production, immune health, and energy metabolism.

Toxic metals often displace essential elements. Lead pushes out calcium from your bones. Cadmium takes zinc's place in important enzymes. Mercury interferes with selenium. When toxic metals accumulate, you end up with a double problem: too much of what's harmful and too little of what's helpful.

Common sources of exposure

Heavy metal exposure happens more often than most people realize. Environmental sources include contaminated water supplies, air pollution from industrial areas, old building materials like lead paint or pipes, and various consumer products from cookware to cosmetics.

Your diet can be a significant source of heavy metal exposure. Large fish like tuna and swordfish contain mercury. Rice and certain grains can contain arsenic and cadmium from contaminated soil or water used during growing. Even some herbal supplements and protein powders have been found to contain heavy metals.

Occupational exposure affects people in construction, manufacturing, automotive industries, and dental fields. If you work with batteries, paint, solder, or certain industrial materials, you're at higher risk.

Medical and dental sources matter too. Dental amalgam fillings contain mercury. Certain medications and medical implants can introduce metals into your system. Even some vaccines historically contained mercury-based preservatives, though this has largely changed.

Symptoms of heavy metal toxicity

The symptoms of heavy metal toxicity are frustratingly vague, which is why they're so often missed. Neurologically, you might experience brain fog, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, headaches, or even tremors. Your energy plummets, leaving you chronically fatigued and weak no matter how much you rest.

Digestive symptoms like nausea, cramping, and irregular bowel movements are common. Your mood suffers with increased anxiety, depression, or unexplained irritability. Physically, you might deal with joint pain, muscle aches, or skin problems. Your immune system weakens, leaving you prone to frequent infections that take longer to heal than they should.

The challenge is that these symptoms overlap significantly with nutrient deficiencies. Low zinc causes some of the same symptoms as high cadmium. Magnesium deficiency looks a lot like lead toxicity. This is exactly why testing both toxic and essential elements is so valuable. You get the complete story.

Testing Options and What They Reveal

One of the most important things to understand about metals testing is that different sample types provide different information. There's no single "best" test. Your practitioner chooses based on what they need to know about your exposure timeline and body burden.

Urine testing

Urine testing shows what your body is actively eliminating right now. It reflects recent exposure, roughly the past one to two weeks. This makes it excellent for initial screening before starting any detoxification program.

You'll either collect a random sample or do a 24-hour collection, depending on what your practitioner orders. The 24-hour collection gives a more complete picture of daily excretion patterns.

Hair testing

Hair testing provides a window into long-term exposure, roughly 90 to 120 days. As your hair grows, it incorporates whatever minerals and metals are in your body at that time. This creates a record of chronic exposure patterns.

Hair testing is particularly valuable for tracking trends over time. It's not affected by what you ate yesterday or whether you're having a stressful week. It shows the bigger picture. Interestingly, hair testing is considered the best sample for evaluating lithium status, which matters in mental health treatment.

The test is simple. You cut a small sample of hair close to the scalp, usually from the back of the head. The lab analyzes it to see what's accumulated over those months of growth.

Blood testing

Blood testing comes in two forms: whole blood and red blood cell analysis. Both reflect recent exposure, approximately the past 120 days, but they show different things.

Whole blood measures both what's floating around in your plasma and what's inside your blood cells. It gives you total circulating levels. Red blood cell testing looks specifically at what's inside the cells. This is particularly important for essential nutrients because it shows you what your cells actually have available to use, not just what's passing by in your bloodstream.

Red blood cell testing is considered the best way to evaluate functional nutrient status. You might have decent magnesium levels in your serum but be deficient at the cellular level where it matters. This test reveals that discrepancy.

Stool testing

Stool testing reflects very recent exposure, just the past 24 to 48 hours. It shows you what metals are being eliminated through your digestive tract. This is particularly useful for understanding dietary exposure because it captures what you're consuming in food and water.

Which test is right for you?

Your practitioner determines the best sample type by considering your symptoms, suspected exposure sources, health history, and treatment goals. Sometimes they'll recommend multiple sample types to get the most complete picture.

Working With Your Results

Getting your test results is just the beginning. The real value comes from working with a practitioner who understands how to interpret those results and create a safe, effective treatment plan.

What to expect when reviewing results

When you review results with your practitioner, they'll explain which toxic metals were detected and how severe the elevation is. They'll discuss likely exposure sources based on the pattern of metals found and your life circumstances.

They'll review your essential element status, identifying deficiencies or excesses that need attention. They'll connect these findings to your symptoms, helping you understand why you've been feeling the way you have. Then they'll create a personalized treatment protocol designed specifically for your situation.

They'll also help you understand realistic timelines. Metal detoxification is not a quick process. It takes time to safely eliminate accumulated metals and restore proper mineral balance.

Common intervention approaches

For toxic metal exposure:

First, you need to identify and eliminate ongoing exposure sources. If you're continuing to absorb metals while trying to detoxify, you're fighting a losing battle. This might involve new water filtration, dietary changes, occupational modifications, or even removing dental amalgams.

Nutritional support replenishes essential elements that toxic metals have depleted. Your practitioner uses your test results to determine which nutrients you need and in what amounts.

Regular monitoring through retesting tracks metal elimination and ensures the protocol is working safely. Your practitioner adjusts the approach based on how your body responds.

For nutrient imbalances:

Targeted supplementation can address nutrient imbalances found in your results. Not all supplements are created equal. Your practitioner chooses the most bioavailable forms and appropriate amounts for your situation. Geviti works with Xymogen, the most well-researched and highly accredited supplement manufacturer trusted by functional practitioners.

Dietary optimization focuses on foods rich in the nutrients you're deficient in. Sometimes improving your diet is enough to correct mild deficiencies.

If absorption is the problem rather than intake, your practitioner addresses gut health. Digestive issues often prevent proper absorption of minerals even when you're consuming or supplementing them adequately.

Takeaways

Heavy metal toxicity is one of those health problems that hides in plain sight. The symptoms are vague enough that they're often attributed to stress, aging, or just "feeling off." But for many people, accumulated toxic metals are the real culprit behind years of unexplained health issues.

The complexity increases because toxic metals don't work alone. They displace essential minerals your body needs, creating a double burden. You're dealing with both the direct toxic effects of metals like mercury and lead, and the downstream effects of deficiencies in zinc, magnesium, selenium, and other crucial nutrients.

The good news is that with proper testing and treatment, many people experience significant improvement. As toxic metals are eliminated and nutrient balance is restored, symptoms that have persisted for years often resolve. Energy improves, brain fog lifts, mood stabilizes, digestive issues settle. The body can finally function the way it's supposed to.

Regular monitoring ensures the treatment is working and that you're not being re-exposed. Metal detoxification is a process, not a quick fix. But with patience, proper guidance, and comprehensive testing, you can reduce your toxic burden and restore the mineral balance your body needs.

If you suspect heavy metal exposure or want to optimize your mineral status, testing provides the answers you need to move forward with confidence.

Getting Started with Metals Testing Through Geviti

Geviti offers comprehensive metals testing with professional support. All Geviti members have access to Mosaic’s Heavy Metals test. You can purchase the test anytime, with or without a recommendation from your Geviti care team. All diagnostics come with a professional review. The test is $200 for Lite members and $165 for Plus/Plus Rx members.

How to purchase the MycoTOX profile:

1. Open the Geviti app or web portal
2. Select “Other” from the bottom menu bar
3. Select “Order Labs and Diagnostics”
4. Select “Specialty Test Kits”
5. Choose the Heavy Metals test
6. Select “Continue to Purchase” and checkout

What happens after I purchase the test?

After checking out, the at-home test kit will be mailed to you. Upon receiving the test kit, you will collect a sample and mail it back to Mosaic’s lab using the prepaid mailing materials included in your kit. Results will be available 1-2 weeks after the lab receives your sample. Once your results are ready, you can view them in the Geviti app or web portal in the “documents” section. From there, your longevity specialist will create a custom review video explaining your results.

FAQs

How long does it take to eliminate heavy metals?

This varies significantly from person to person. It depends on your total body burden of metals, which metals are present, how well your detoxification systems are working, and the treatment approach your provider chooses. Some people see meaningful improvement within a few months. Others need a year or more of consistent treatment. Your practitioner monitors your progress through regular retesting and adjusts your protocol based on how your body responds. The process requires patience, but the results are worth it.

Can heavy metals cause nutrient deficiencies?

Absolutely. Toxic metals often displace essential nutrients in your body. Lead takes the place of calcium in your bones and in enzyme systems that need calcium to function. Cadmium displaces zinc. Mercury interferes with selenium metabolism. This is exactly why testing both toxic metals and essential elements together is so valuable. Your practitioner can see not just that you have elevated lead, but also that your calcium is low as a result. They address both the metal burden and the resulting nutritional imbalances for more complete healing.

Are supplements safe if I'm deficient?

Generally yes, when properly prescribed by your provider based on test results. However, mineral supplementation needs to be carefully balanced. Too much zinc can cause copper deficiency. Excess copper can become toxic. High doses of calcium can interfere with magnesium absorption. Your practitioner uses your test results to determine the appropriate forms of minerals, the right dosages, and the proper ratios to maintain balance. They then monitor you through retesting to ensure supplementation is correcting deficiencies without creating new imbalances.

Sources:

• https://mosaicdx.com/test/heavy-metals-test/
• https://mosaicdx.com/resource/toxicant-testing-comparison-chart/