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[Sciences/Junk Sciences] Zeolites, blood-brain barrier and “Autism Detox” scam.

Recently, it came to my attention of another scam popped up on social media. This scam came in form of the “Autism Detox” page on Facebook coming with the following description:
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“Zeolite”, “blood-brain barrier”, ‘detoxify toxins and heavy metals” and “cellular level”.
Incredible how much amount of BS claims can be packed in such a small vaporizer. Not only this was enough BS, the owner of this page went the extra mile and claims it is an “autism detox” as well.
I call this an utter amount of BS and since I am a scientist, I will explain why it is an utter amount of BS.

1. What are zeolites?
Zeolites are crystalline structure made of aluminum, silicium and oxygen. These crystals are formed by the aggregation of 4 oxygen atoms around aluminum Al3+ and Silicium Si4+ (notice how Avers that yells “shark” on aluminum in vaccines are fine absorbing aluminum from zeolites).
These frameworks of AlO4 and SiO4 can form 3-D geometrical structures harboring charges and possibly acting as a caging structure as shown below (Moshoeshoe et al., Am J Mat Sci 2017):

As you can see different structures exist. Now, which zeolites are used in the product described in this “detox”? According to the vendor website (https://www.coseva.com/toxin-removal/advanced-trs/), clinoptilolite (CLI) (amongst water and a proprietary formula). According to Mosheoshoe and colleagues, CLI harbors the following chemical composition ((Na,K)6(Si30Al6O72) •20H2O)) and harbor the following crystalline structure:
Clinoptilolite

Notably, CLI also display one of the lowest cation exchange capacity (CEC) of 2-2.6 mEq/gram. In summary, CLI is a small zeolite crystalline structure with limited cation exchange (against Ca2+, K+ and Na+). First, it shows that these compounds have a molecular weight exceeding the size recommended for small molecules (~832 Da>500 Da), a ring size bigger than the tight junction pore (5.6 Angstroms>4 Angstroms) and an non-negligeable amount of molecular charges. All these features make CLI very unlikely to cross the blood-brain barrier and no studies have provided a direct experimental evidence that CLI crosses the BBB.

2. Does zeolites even cross the GI tract?

Good question! The only paper that I found discussing about zeolites is a paper from Cefali and colleagues (Cefali et al., Pharm Res 1995). Unfortunately I cannot access the paper but the abstract provides two important parameters: Cmax and AUC. In particularly, it also provides the value of aluminum hydroxide (yep, that stuff found in vaccines).
Cmax is indicative of the maximal concentration reached upon administration via extravascular route (IM, PO or SC). The AUC is representative of the total amount that reached the circulation from the time of administration until the time the drug becomes undetectable in blood. From the abstract we have the following information “The mean plasma silicon AUC values (+/- S.D.) were 9.5 +/- 4.5 [Note: Zeolite A], 7.7 +/- 1.6, 8.8 +/- 3.0, 6.1 +/- 1.9 mg.hr/L [Note: Aluminum Hydroxide] and the mean plasma silicon Cmax values (+/- S.D.) were 1.07 +/- 1.06 [Note: Zeolite A], 0.67 +/- 0.27, 0.75 +/- 0.31, 0.44 +/- 0.17 mg/L [Note: Aluminum Hydroxide] for Zeolite A, sodium aluminosilicate, magnesium trisilicate, and aluminum hydroxide respectively. Although mean silicon AUC and Cmax values were elevated when compared to baseline after administration of the silicon containing compounds, only the AUC from Zeolite A reached statistical significance (p = 0.041). The mean plasma silicon Tmax values (+/- S.D.) were 7.9 +/- 6.4, 5.8 +/- 4.6, 6.9 +/- 6.3 and 8.5 +/- 3.4 hrs for Zeolite A, sodium aluminosilicate, magnesium trisilicate and aluminum Hydroxide respectively.”. Since we have a Cmax and AUC value for Zeolite A and aluminum hydroxide very similar, we can assume that both compounds may likely show similar bioavailability. Considering the bioavailability of Al is very low (0.3%), it is very likely that zeolite and CLI may not show a higher value that this one. Thus, out of 100g ingested of zeolite, maybe less than 0.3g will likely reach the bloodstream. In conclusion the amount of zeolite capable to cross the GI is very small and considering the volume of a TRS “Detox” (28mL), the amount of zeolite capable to cross the GI tract after swallowing a whole bottle of it is likely to be ZERO.

3. What about the rest of the claims?
As far we have seen:
1) CLI absorption at the GI tract is likely close to ZERO, even if you sip a whole bottle at once (see 2).
2) CLI cannot cross the BBB because of the physicochemical constrains (see 1). The only paper listed in Pubmed is a letter written to a journal with no scientific evidence or experimental data backing up the claim (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23224491).
3) The claim of detox is utterly BS: there are two organs that do it for you. The liver and the kidneys. Thats it.
4) Heavy metal detox mostly occurs via renal (kidney) filtration. Even if zeolites can trap ions like Na+ or K+, I still have to find a paper that shows me it can trap heavy metals (Cd2+, Pb2+, Hg2+…..). CLI has been shown to only trap three ions (Ca2+, Na+ and K+) with the poorest ability.
5) Claiming that autism be cured is not fallacious but criminal. Until now, there is no cure for autism. There is no evidence that chelating ions cure autism (chelation therapies have even been proven to be dangerous and responsible for the death of at least one boy). There is also no published mechanism of action demonstrating how a treatment can reverse a condition mostly identified as genetic.

 

36 replies on “[Sciences/Junk Sciences] Zeolites, blood-brain barrier and “Autism Detox” scam.”

So, what do you advise for detox? I have been collecting toxins and heavy metals for some 10 years now, i am only 26 years of age. I have been having serious brain fog, memory problems and heavy social anxiety as a result of it.

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Hi, thank you for your message. I will be honest with you, you have unlikely being collecting toxins and heavy metals for the last 10 years unless you have been drinking water with lead exceeding the recommendation (which should have been publicly announced). You have two organs that detox your body 24/7: your liver and your kidneys.
There is no miracle pill, there is no magic treatment: the best method to keep up is to live a healthy lifestyle: keep a healthy diet (fruits and vegetables, with moderation on junk food), regular and moderate exercise, keeping substance of abuse or recreational substances at very moderate level, and if you have a heavy social anxiety please seek care from a real doctor specialized in mental health. There is no shame to experience mental health issues and there is no shame to ask for medications to help fight your anxiety. It can be overwhelming but there are also some medications out there that can help you get back in control of your anxiety.
I wish you well and hopefully find appropriate care.

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Thanks for your reply. Well, heavy metals and toxins are much more complicated than that and more numerous than just lead. There are many ways to get infected with them, through air, food, environment, different practices, etc.. I did write that i have been collecting heavy metals and toxins for some 10 years, because of the symptoms i recognized through the years, but the serious symptoms began only since last year, where i was in USA for some 6 months. I immediately felt the difference of environment, food, etc.. Also, my cooking pan appears to have been leaking metals, and my diet hasn’t been very diversified or ideal. As for recreational substances, i have never used such things nor do i smoke, i am very pure from that scope. Now, in regards to the Advanced TRS i read in your article above, the inventor said that the only reason his nano-sized zeolite can pass the BBB, is because the aforementioned zeolite has been suspended inside a water molecule through colloidal suspension, and reasoning that wherever water can go, the zeolites will also travel, including through the BBB. As for the zeolites reaching the gut, the inventor in a presentation i watched recently, confirmed what you wrote, that the zeolite never reaches the gut and that it gets absorbed very quickly and spread through the appropriate channels found in the mouth and larynx. I am not a scientist but all these make sense. In addition to that, zeolites, in general, have been proven through many studies to be effective as a detoxifying agent, bearing in mind also the quality of the zeolite itself. Thanks again for your time and happy New Year.

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Please explain me something.

On this particular answer you said:

“I will be honest with you, you have unlikely being collecting toxins and heavy metals for the last 10 years unless you have been drinking water with lead exceeding the recommendation”

And on the original article you said:

“Chelation therapies have even been proven to be dangerous and responsible for the death of at least one boy”

Can you please explain me this: If a regular healthy body is unlikely toxic with heavy metals how is it chelation dangeours?

The main chelation methods used by alternative medicine are zeolites or Alpha-lipoic acid (and those are the only that matter on this consideration because anyone will use drugs to chelate without medical prescription).

Zeolites have the FDA GRAS status and Alpha-lipoic acid or ALA is a naturally occurring compound that’s made in the body.

I agree that chelation can be dangerous because the process can create redistribution of heavy metals in the body if there is any. But you said that its unlikely for a person to have heavy metal toxicity. So no metals to redistribute.

So with your premise that the body is not toxic you are saying that taking a simple zeolite or a naturally occurring compound that is found in many supplements in many pharmacy or natural store are dangerous. Even if FDA said they are safe.

Or I am missing something?

Thank you very much!

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Hi Ricardo,
Thank you for your message. Let me see how to break it down.
So far, the major risk of heavy metals exposure is either by occupational or eating/drinking contaminated products. Thats one thing.
Now in case of heavy metal poisoning (and I talk here acute and high exposure), there is a chelation therapy option to treat such poisoning but it has its risk.
U of Mich has a page I would recommend reading:
https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/ty3205spec
When I say it is risky and should be only performed if acute poisoning is done, there is this case of death by chelation therapy because a quack doctor claimed he could cure autism with:
Here are some case reports:
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5508a3.htm
As I said, there are very few instance you are at risk to heavy metals exposure: it can be occupational (I think about mercury vapors), environmental (polluted soil and/or water containing lead or mercury at high level), and possibly some prosthesis (hip replacement) which can leak cobalt or chromium.
Zeolites per se, and in the purest form are likely GRAS (and I would agree with that), but what are the quality insurance that the extraction, production and sales of TRS products and similar are indeed pure and void of any contaminants? There is unlikely an approval for that. If they claim: “This product has not been reviewed by the FDA and therefore should be used to diagnose, prevent or treat a condition”.
That’s the gamble you put yourself with supplements. And there is a checkered record of them with cases involving fatalities and products recall.
Would you take a medication from Big Pharma prior its review and approval by the FDA (excluding clinical trial)? No. So why Big Supplement should have a benefit of the doubt and held to a lower standard than drugs?

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By Post Author

Have you been using Advanced-TRS Δημητριος; After 9 bottles I think there has been some minor improvement of some of my symptoms (not gut related) but the process is so slow, if any. For example, I am still sensitive to high sulfur (thiol) foods. My toxicity is from amalgams. Νικος

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Hi Nikos, thank you for your email. I will honest with you. Since the literature on zeolites and the MOA have not been well documented, I speculate that your (slow) improvement may likely be not more than just placebo effect. The science is not in favor of TRS and you are likely wasting your money on an inert substance.

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Hello Nikos. Not yet. I had some problems with customs fees here in Greece. Therefore i am in the process of returning it back, and ordering it through a relative i have in New York. In any case, how many sprays are you taking daily? 9 bottles and still haven’t seen much improvement? You might be dealing with something completely different. What are your symptoms?

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Hi Vanessa. Thank you for message. Extraordinary claims requires extraordinary evidence. Only the stupid makes claims against the pile of evidence (autism is mostly genetic) without bringing evidence to backup their claims. Citation or did not happen. And please, spare me Youtube videos or some GreenMedInfo website. Peer-review studies to back your claim or you get the boot.

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what kind of testing did you do on it are you just assuming it doesn’t work by your calculations and assumptions doesn’t work and since you think it can’t work you haven’t tested it and do you think you could design a better product given your knowledge of this subject

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Literature. The current scientific literature. Where is the scientific literature showing that it works? Based on the current literature and the properties of zeolites, the claims made are close to zero when it comes to clinical efficacy.
If you can make claims that it work without showing evidence, then I can make a claim as strong as you that I have a dragon in my garage without the need to show proof of it.
Citations (with real data) or did not happen.

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HI Sullivan,
Thank you for your message. To be honest, I cannot validate or refute this claim based on the composition given by TRS. They claim the composition of their product is zeolites and water.
However, I have seen a post in social media about a mom asking about TRS on top of homeopathic treatments for her baby, including Nux vomica homeopathic pills.
Strychinine is an alkaloid substance found in Nux Vomica (strychnine tree), certain homeopathic products are sold as very high dilutions. Even if homeopathic dilutions are basically water, I would not even try playing the Russian roulette with it. A botched dilution, a concentrated tincture mater inside and you will experience the pharmacological effect of strychnine very fast, especially in a baby (remember the Hyman teething homeopathic products that were removed following the death of 10 infants? A botched dilution leaded of Belladonna tincture mater lead to preparation with enough atropine inside to display a strong pharmacological effect. 10 infants died from it).

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Hello Sullivan. No, it doesn’t contain strychnine. Advanced TRS is simply nano-sized and lab created Clinoptilolite Zeolite encased in a water molecule through colloidal suspension. Let me stress the fact that the water used is pure water.

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Hi. Thanks for your feedback. I’m considering it for my son who is ASD. But I wouldn’t think it’s going to “cure” him. I didn’t see it claiming that either. I want another detox option. You see, these kids are less likely to be able to detox naturally. I can recommend a few books to read that better explain this. I think parents are interested in things that are low in risk and could help even a little because our medical system can’t keep up with the complex needs.

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Crystal, thank you very much for your message.
You see, ASD children have until now no documented polymorphisms linked to any impaired “detoxification”, let it be liver metabolism (Phase I and Phase II enzymes) or kidney function; unless there is a proven pathology ongoing in these two organs.
Please seek advice from a certified neuropediatrican for medical advices, not from books (non-peer reviewed literature).
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-47666939

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4017810/

“Conclusion

This study confirms earlier studies that implicate toxic metal accumulation as a CONSEQUENCE of impaired detoxification in autism and provides insight into the etiological mechanism of autism.”

Therefore, yes, ASD persons have impaired detox pathways. Also,

“early intervention through the supplementation of good quality and safe antioxidants, including vitamin E, carnosine and selenium, can be helpful in decreasing the burden of heavy metal toxicity”

Hope this helps ❤ Happy Autism Awareness Month

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I think you are missing something here.
1. It is a study done in Saudi children, therefore we have to be careful about transposing as a general rule, considering important cofounding factors, especially endogamous pedigree (I dont think this is the main issue here, since the study indicates increased Hg and Pb levels.
2. These patients have elevated Hg and Pb levels compared to controls. These are metals well-known to be neurotoxic. What is really missing here is the socio-economic status to explain this elevated levels (contaminated drinking water source?)
3. They measured GST in plasma, which is not the liver GST. The term “detoxification” is restricted in pharmacokinetics to liver metabolism and renal excretion. The authors have no qualifications in terms of pharmacokinetics and likely due to ESL misused the term “detoxification”. You have two major class of detoxifying enzymes: the Phase I (CYPs) and Phase II (including GSTs) that are mostly done in liver. Metals only requires a kidney extraction to be detoxified. There is nothing you can modify on metals. You cannot change their valence, you cannot graft them polar groups to ease their excretion. The better term for what we see (depletion in GST and Vitamin E) is “oxidative stress”.
4. You will note in a Pubmed search, that there were no follow up studies on that one. Was it a fluke? Probably.
The paper is in its form quite interesting, but also missing a lot of information. Yes, there is a well-known association between these metals and neurotoxicity (yielding to impaired brain development). Yes, such impaired development can lead to autism (and may count as environmental involved in ASD). However, the authors never checked the origin of this abnormally high levels, never checked the kidney function (to ensure an absence of impaired kidney function), and foremost never checked if this impaired GST levels was and if this decreased activity was inherent to decreased to a particular GST enzymes (there are several isoforms) or GST activity (due to direct or indirect inhibition). Since these metals are well-known to induce oxidative stress, we can speculate the GST and Vitamin E depletion are reflecting this increased oxidative stress status. Also noteworthy, similar observation were done in other diseases as well.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887233318304235

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By Post Author

Seriously, we would never have thought you could undo genetics. But since those of us on the spectrum also have a genetic inability to naturally detox, what should we do? Mercury from fillings and other sources has wreaked havoc with my kids’ health. My adult daughter started using this and SPD issues she’s had for 30 years, as well as some other issues, went away. Her eyes, which were blue as a child but had darkened to gray, lightened back to their original blue!

So what is this stuff doing?

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I am curious what geneticist said that and which genes.
As I am an instructor in pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics courses to PharmD students, I am very curious about the source of such extraordinary claims.

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By Post Author

Jenn,
Thank you for you message. Can I ask you how did you came up to the conclusion that mercury fillings have been the source of your kids problems? Do you mind giving a relative age interval of your kids?

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This stuff works. I’m in a group with over 54,000 members of TRS that agree. You are an idiot.

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As a person with Aspergers, I ask that you clarify that YOU have done this to YOURSELF in a controlled environment and produced results. As a child who was horribly beaten due to my “adhd” and that developed psychological issues due people like you, I’d like to know if you’re putting your child under stress by trying to fix how their brain is wired when it’s entirely genetic and happens in your broken babymaker. Medication never “fixed” anyone with this condition, they’re just too terrified to act like themselves around you or risk getting a chlorine enema.

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I stopped reading at extremely poor grammar. lol. Scientist, maybe, but you need a refresher grammar course. Oh yeah, and for autism being so incurable, interesting that I personally know so many kids who have had their autism reversed.

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Thanks for your comment. Well, being ESL is certainly not making my grammar on the top-notch, but that does not make your claim more valid. Again, i will repeat it, this time with the correct spelling and grammar: “The plural of anecdote is not data.” James Randi.
Citations of peer-reviewed studies to support your claims (and I insist on the plural to this one) or did not happen.

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Well, that was a whole lot of snarky, emotionally charged assumptions and skewed information for someone who claims to be pro-science.

You admittedly only read abstracts of some research, omitted dozens of studies on the effectiveness of clinoptilolite, did not address purified lab-derived or nanoparticle clinoptilolite, and discounted thousands of parent’s testimony as “placebo effect”.

All the while, making presumptive, closed-minded (and false) statements that ASD behaviors cannot be reduced/cured.

It’s clear your pharmaceutical ties have indoctrinated you to the point of losing objectivity.

My family has found healing through supporting the body’s natural detoxification processes in a variety of ways and limiting harmful exposures…not masking symptoms with pharmaceuticals.

Best of luck in your journey to understanding true health.

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Hi there, I guess you are another troll and you brought your haystack of anecdotes with you? Do you expect that I will help you build a straw man with you?
Again, I repeat it one more time (add it to the rest of the comments). Anecdotes are not plural for data. Peer-reviewed studies supporting your claim or did not happen.

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scientist and these so called peer reviews are part of the problem. Scientist are smart but not so smart to design vaccines or meds that do not have side effects. I agree that anything can have some sort of genetic tethering to it but lets not completely remove from the equation that all the additives can cause issues in our body as it is unnatural, especially in infants with underdeveloped immune systems. just a little common sense to the science will go along way especially when the proof is in the pudding and a child gets injured from a vaccine. Hope you can find better science for us.

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And your credentials to consider smarter than a scientist is?
a) Master in Reiki.
b) Tier 1 MLM sale representative for TRS.
c) I did my research on Google
You claim that science and peer-reviewed is flawed, yet you just toss scientific terms into a salad bowl and served it to us without any dressing.
Let fix some of your claims:
1. Drugs and vaccines work, but they are not perfect. By asking a perfect medicine, you are asking the impossible to achieve. And because you want it either perfect or nothing, you are using the “nirvana fallacy” card. Drugs can be better, but we are coming from far and we are still working on newer generations of drugs. Maybe you are not aware but there are some drugs that were widely used 20-30 years ago that are no more becasue surpassed by a newer generation that are more potent with less side effects.
2. Additives, seems additives is the new “fridge mom” or “sugar high” excuse for explaining kids behavior. So far, this is not supported by science as studies in the literature found no evidence supporting your claims. Ironically, additives are extracted from natural pigments.
3. Underdeveloped immune system. Here we go, the same old concept than the “immature BBB” in children based on a literature that is 30 years old. I know the 80s are highly fashion right now, but the science of the 80s remains in the 80s and are as obsolete as food with a best-by date from the 80s. Both concepts were dismissed are advances in sciences demonstrated that they were wrong.
Babies have a functional immune system and a BBB at birth. There are scientific reasons why the schedule is set as it is, because it is inclusive of several factors that dictates when the particular immunization to a particular VPD is optimal.

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As you can see, I did my research on Pubmed , as the date of publication of this post. Please, don’t confuse my PhD with your MLM scheme. Should I presume you have a serious conflict of interest in selling cat litter juice as some magical elixir, Karen?

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Yes, after a million years of evolution, mother nature suddenly decided that in the last hundred years, humans are supposed to develop autism and other neurological disorders en masse, totally unrelated to any environmental changes. It’s scary how people like you are considered to be the smart ones.

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