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Is There Any Reliable Evidence That Zeolite Works?

by — Last updated: 2021-02-17 in Alternative medicine & healing therapies

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Do you need zolites, a diverse group of minerals, to remove a build-up of heavy metals from your body, or is that just another outrageous claim made by people who don't value scientific accuracy?

Ins't Zeolite Recognized As Safe By The FDA?

Yes, it is. Zeolite is, as you'll recall, being used for all kinds of household products and for that, it is "generally recognized as safe". That doesn't mean companies have the right to promote zeolite as a natural cure for diseases, nor as an effective preventative measure, however. Vitamin C is generally recognized as safe, but that doesn't mean anyone should go around promoting it as a HIV treatment. 

The Food and Drug Administration is quite strict about warning people who claim that products that aren't FDA-approved (for a particular purpose) were, in fact, approved by the agency. So what does it have to say about zeolite? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Writing to ZEO Health Ltd, one of the biggest distributors of zeolite in the US, the agency made it clear that the products Esdifan, Destroxin, and Zeo were being marketed in ways that rendered them "drugs". That is, the manufacturer claimed that the products could be used to prevent and cure cancer, treat diarrhea, and prevent hangovers respectively. 

The FDA's warning letter said:

"Your products are not generally recognized as safe and effective for the above referenced conditions and therefore, the products are also "new drugs" under section 201(p) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321 (p)]. New drugs may not be legally marketed in the U.S. without prior approval from FDA as described in section 505(a) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 355(a)]. FDA approves a new drug on the basis of scientific data submitted by a drug sponsor to demonstrate that the drug is safe and effective."

In plain English, that means that selling zeolite is fine, but the moment you make the claim that a product cures or prevents health problems, that products becomes a "drug", and needs to go through far more rigorous testing to be deemed both safe and effective than, say, something you use to line your cat's litter box or something you put in your washing machine to help clean your clothes.

These same products and those made by different companies are, of course, still very much being promoted in the same way, in some cases minus the claim that these products were generally recognized as safe by the FDA. Leaving that claim off does not, of course, make the products any more legitimate. 

Are There Any Studies To Back The Claims Up?

Yes, there is a study that examined the presence of heavy metals in participants' urine before and after the use of zeolite. Indeed, using zeolite caused an increase in the urinary excretion of numerous heavy metals. Can we really neglect to consider the possibility that those heavy metals entered the body with the consumption of zeolite itself? Another concern is that the study did not disclose the exact levels of heavy metals eliminated — we could be talking about significant levels, or very minor ones. 

In short, there are not enough studies nor reliable studies to prove the bold claims that zeolite can eliminate heavy metals from the body, there aren't enough studies to prove that consuming zeolite is safe at all, and there is no proof that our bodies naturally acquire dangerous levels of heavy metals under normal, everyday circumstances — nor that this could lead to disease.

Another claim that goes around is that zeolites were used after the Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters. This is a claim SteadyHealth has been unable to verify.

READ Detoxification Programs 'Cleanse' Your Wallet, But Are There Any Real Health Benefits?

Detoxification is a very real medical term that describes the process of removing toxins from our bodies. We are, however, talking about dangerously high levels of alcohol, drugs, or real poisons. Detoxification is provided in hospitals, under (potentially) life-threatening conditions — such as the time my friend's son got horrendously drunk on his 18th birthday or the time my then two-year old son drank a whole bottle of Tylenol. Should you have reason to believe that you have been exposed to dangerous substances, you need to go to hospital right away and get tested for their presence, not buy a mineral that may or may not help you. If not, you don't need zeolite, and you may want to consider the possibility that consuming it could add rather than remove heavy metals.