It’s Friday, so it’s another science day! (Well, I suppose that’s every day, for me 😉). Today I’m going to address something I haven’t addressed at all: heavy metals and their association with ADHD. I hope you’re able to get some actionable steps out of this while realizing it’s not something we need to be completely afraid of. Life is filled with nuance and outliers, and stress is nearly always going to be the worst offender.

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Heavy Metals and ADHD

Depending on how long and where exactly you find yourself in the ADHD online space, you’ve likely heard about heavy metals. Typically, I don’t like to talk about this topic since it’s not exactly my expertise. However, since we have new research on it, I wanted to make sure I share it with y’all! In general, I don’t find myself being worried about heavy metals (for reasons I’ll share when we get to the ‘action’ section of this newsletter), but I know a lot of you might be, so it’s important to discuss.

People worry about heavy metals because they can accumulate in the body over time and have been linked to a wide range of health issues, including brain health, development, and hormonal disruption. And honestly, they are fair worries, especially for certain populations. For example, children, developing fetuses, industrial workers, and people with lower socioeconomic status are all at a higher risk of heavy metal exposure. If you don’t fall into those categories, it’s typically not something to be worried about for yourself unless you eat a lot of high-mercury fish like swordfish.

The Association of ADHD and Heavy Metals

That all being said, there seems to be an association between ADHD and heavy metals. Let’s break down this new research study that was just published on January 31st, 2025.

Let’s make this a bit easier to understand.

• Kids with an ADHD diagnosis were more likely to have higher levels of cadmium, copper, lead, and antimony in their body.

• The higher copper and cadmium levels, the more severe the inattention symptoms

• The higher the copper and antimony levels, the more severe the hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms

• Copper was the most severe offender: it had the highest hazard risk (16x higher risk than the general population) and was associated with increased symptom severity in both measures.

Does this mean heavy metals cause ADHD?

No, not at all. What it means is that we have a significant association between heavy metals and ADHD. This could mean many different things, such as:

• Heavy metals can influence genetic expression or affect the developing brain enough to induce ADHD-like symptoms through neurotoxicity,

• Kids with ADHD are more likely to be exposed to heavy metals,

• ADHD bodies are worse at catabolizing (breaking down) heavy metals,

• ADHD bodies are better at absorbing heavy metals,

and there are so many other possible reasons. The truth is that it is likely multifaceted, and we don’t have any conclusive evidence for why we see these statistics. So, with all this in mind, here is what we can do. 👇️ 

So what should we do?

There are a few action steps that I would recommend here.

1. Ensure you/your kid is consuming enough zinc. Zinc competes with copper for absorption, meaning that if you’re eating enough zinc, our bodies can’t metabolize copper and then flushes it out quicker. Our body absorbs the zinc from food sources better than supplements, so make sure you’re eating plenty of cocoa/cacao, oysters, chicken, pumpkin seeds, and hemp seeds!

2. Limit copper exposure. If your water pipes are copper, consider getting a reverse-osmosis or activated carbon filter. You can also avoid cooking on copper pans and limit your environmental exposure by wearing masks if you’ll be traveling through an industrial area.

3. Eat a fiber (plant) rich diet. Fiber supports our detoxifying systems - this is one of the only true ways of doing a detox: supporting our liver and kidneys. Fiber is found in so many things, but they’re mainly found in plants (and mushrooms). Cilantro is going to be a special mention: there’s some research to support that it specifically aids in removing excess heavy metals from our body.

4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! The other way to support our detox system is to keep it hydrated. When we’re inadequately hydrated, our body is unable to perform at its highest and cannot adequately filter our the heavy metals.

5. Reduce or eliminate alcohol and nicotine (both cigarettes/cigars and vape). These can reek havoc on our liver, and remember: we want to HELP our liver if we’re worried about heavy metals.

6. Exercise regularly. Exercise also (you guessed it) supports liver and kidney function! Even walking once a day can be helpful.

Anyway, as for why I personally don’t worry? Well, I do all the above. And, at the end of the day, that’s really all we can do anyway. Focus on what is in your control, and try not to stress too much about what isn’t. If you’re able to get tested, it may not be a bad idea either.

P.S. if you want to know what to test for at the doctor’s office to see if nutrients are impacting your ADHD symptoms, don’t forget to join the Nutrimind Community to get access to the ADHD Nutrient Testing Masterlist! It’s available in the higher tier at this time ($13/month).

Thanks for reading!

If you have any thoughts, questions, or comments, be sure to shoot me a DM on Instagram @Nutrimindcoach or simply reply to this email. I LOVE hearing from you!

This week on the Nutritional Mental Health Podcast, I talk even more about Heavy Metals and ADHD - I go through this topic more in depth! I hope you’re able to get something helpful out of it :)