photo, b/w, man with small fish

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that every American from age 50-70 get a colonoscopy every 10 years. A lot of people are literally uncomfortable with that idea as well as the experience. Consequently some (especially radiologists) have advocated “virtual colonoscopy” which is a nonthreatening way of saying “irradiate my body”. 

 Another method is to test your stool for invisible blood. The old way was to perform what was called a stool guaiac. Guaiac is the resin from the aptly named, Guaiacum tree. It worked, but lots of common foods and supplements messed it up. It also missed finding a significant number of cancers.

 A new way to test stool, the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) is much more sensitive, accurate and not confused by diet or supplements. It is just as easy to use as the old guaiac test. Compared to colonoscopy, it is far cheaper, safer and the experience is much more comfortable.  I recommend it.

 Many of you are rightly concerned about mercury, especially the risk of accumulating it in your body from eating fish. As fish, especially omega-3 rich seafood, has so many health benefits, wouldn’t you just know there had to be a downside?

 Generally speaking, as long as you choose fish that are lower on the food chain, your mercury exposure is not so much. What does “lower on the food chain” mean? An animal that eats an animal that ate another animal, also eats every nasty thing each of those animals ate. Those nasty things build up in the animal/fish at the top of that chain of consumption. This is why fish oil from anchovies, mackerel and sardines usually contains very little mercury. Tuna, shark and other big, predatory fish, carry much more mercury and other toxins in their tissues.

 Hair testing is not reliable for most purposes. It is changed too much by chemicals in the air around you and even more by your shampoo or anything else you put on your hair. Also, as hair testing reflects exposures over the time the sampled hair was growing, it is not a useful measurement of short-term exposures or of exposures that occurred before that snippet of hair grew out. 

 Testing your hair for mercury exposure IS a good idea. Many years ago Greenpeace ran a survey to learn about our mercury exposures. My family all got ours tested then. Although I did not like the large bald spot on my head created by my overly aggressive daughter’s sampling technique, it grew back in and I got a clear picture of where I stood with mercury. I was the worst in the family, but still not bad.

 Mercury testing has been expensive. Recently I found that the University of Georgia will perform the test for only $20. Order here.  I plan to get ours tested once a year and recommend that you do the same. 

 The order form makes it look like you need a LONG bunch of hair but you do not. Just clip about 30 stands right down at the scalp and send that sample in. Your style choices might be different, but I recommend clipping it from the back of your head unless you want to do a lot of hair explaining to strangers.

Written by 

Michael Carlston, MD is an internationally recognized authority in the integration of conventional and complementary medicine in clinical practice, as well as medical education, research and organizational consulting. Practicing in Santa Rosa, California, Dr. Carlston was voted “Best General Physician In Sonoma County, California” by readers of the Sonoma County Independent newspaper and also named one of the outstanding physicians in the Bay Area by San Francisco Focus Magazine. With 30+ years in private practice, his expertise is in nutrition, homeopathy and sports medicine.