Brigid Kemp writes:

Thank you for your excellent newsletter.  Thank you for your suggestions of nutritious snacks for rambunctious schoolboys.  They love the pumpkin and sunflower seeds and the celery.  You had also mentioned nuts.  Is one kind better than another?   Your newsletter last week mentioned mercury from dental fillings.  Of the few original teeth that I have, some have the amalgam/mercury fillings.  Because of the deteriorating state of these teeth, my dentist is recommending a gradual repair, through crowning.  He's also recommending that I have gold crowns.  These are back teeth.  I am leery of having gold in my mouth.  I would expect that in having these crowns that the old mercury fillings would be removed.  Is there any concern about contamination from mercury as it's being removed? I am also querying the link between my dental situation & having an underactive thyroid. I remember my childhood joys of carrying leftover mercury in my hands and playing with it for long periods. 

DM RESPONSE: Almonds, pecans and walnuts would be the best nuts. I would avoid peanuts, which are not really nuts, and cashews. Ideally, one could also check the blood type and chose nuts based on the lectin information discussed in Eat Right For Your Type.

I would not use any metal in the mouth especially gold. I submitted my paper on mercury detoxification two weeks ago and they informed that I should have an answer in January regarding its acceptance. Once accepted, I can distribute the paper freely. The paper will be most helpful as it reviews these issues in great detail.  The central issue though is that any metal placed in the mouth will interact with other metals forming an electrical current (electrogalvanism). The voltage is on the orders of a thousandth of an amp. Anyone who has metal fillings and has bitten on a gum wrapper will understand the electricity connection. The important aspect of that small current is that it dwarfs the brains own current as it runs on voltage in the micro (one millionth) amp range. So the current generated by the metal crowns will clearly influence brain activity. The other issue is that although the metal is called "gold", it really is an alloy consisting usually of less than 50% gold. There are generally other toxic metals like nickel in the alloy so the gold can be hardened and will stand up as a functional restoration material.  I will be putting my mercury detoxification strategy on the web site soon in the articles section and I would highly recommend following it. I would also only see a dentist who is trained in biological dentistry and understands how to properly remove the mercury.