MOLYBDENUM: Detoxifier, purifier

For a nutrient needed in such a small amount, molybdenum packs quite a health-promoting punch. Dosages well beyond the officially recommended 75 meg a day alleviate ailments ranging from mental grogginess to arthritis. This trace mineral’s primary contribution to our health is as a cell purifier.

THE PURIFIER

In this role, molybdenum cleanses the body of toxic compounds whose accumulation in our cells contributes to depression, pain, fatigue and liver malfunction, among other maladies. It’s one of the most important nutritional weapons we have to combat sulfite allergies and chemical sensitivities. By helping to rid the body of aldehydes, noxious by-products of a yeast (Candida albicans) infection, the mineral clears away the brain fog that often muddles the thinking of people afflicted with an ove growth of the yeast that normally resides in our large intestine

MOLYBDENUM’S MANY MODALITIES

In addition, molybdenum performs several other important roles to preserve our health. It generates energy and helps us manufacture haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells.

• In daily amounts of 500 meg, it can relieve a broad range of aches and pains, including arthritis.
• Other research indicates it may relieve asthma, especially when given intravenously.
• Molybdenum can also help to overcome seizures in newborns.
• It lowers the risk of gastrointestinal cancer. It contributes to preventing tooth decay.
• It also opposes toxic accumulations of copper; making it a useful treatment for Wilson’s disease, an inherited disorder that involves copper metabolism, liver impairment and mental abnormalities.

SUPPLEMENT SUGGESTIONS

A daily dosage of 200-500 meg of molybdenum is probably the minimum necessary for most people, and up to 2,000 meg a day may be called for if you wish to address some of the conditions just listed. If you eat a lot of protein or sulfur-containing foods, such as eggs, you’ll need more than the minimum amount. So will people with a sweet tooth, because the body requires a molybdenum-dependent enzyme to metabolize fructose and sucrose. Consuming sugar; therefore, can lead to a depletion of the trace mineral. Alcohol consumption and excess copper intake also draw upon molybdenum stores.

Larger doses are very safe for most people, because the mineral is washed away easily in the urine. My only precaution is for people with gout. Molybdenum’s ability to help create uric acid, which when elevated leads to gout, could prove problematic. Supplementation could elevate uric acid to an aggravating level, although adverse reactions are rare, even with large dosages. On the other hand, if you do not have gout and your blood uric acid level is low (below 3.6 mg per cent), there is a very good chance you are deficient in molybdenum.

I routinely prescribe 500 meg of molybdenum whenever I see rient whose uric acid is low. It plays so many useful roles in our bodies that I am inclined to correct the possibility of a deficiency just on face value.