Cilantro has been found to chelate (remove) heavy metals like mercury, aluminum, and lead from the body. In fact, it is believed to cross the blood-brain barrier and actually remove said metals from the brain. Is this just quackery or is there something to it? I’ve been looking into it and have found the following.

The contention that cilantro is a powerful chelation agent is based on the research of Dr. Yoshiaki Omura, President and Founder of the International College of Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics and Director of Medical Research of the Heart Disease Research Foundation.

In 1995, Omura observed that subjects had higher than normal levels of mercury in their urine after consuming Vietnamese soup, which has large amounts of cilantro (also called “Chinese parsley”). He followed up on this accidental finding and discovered that giving cilantro to patients with mercury poisoning for several weeks successfully eliminated the toxin from the body.

You can read the abstract of his research here.

Some people don’t believe mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings is a problem. However, others feel it is a serious issue and that we should have our fillings removed and detox from mercury and other heavy metals in order to avoid serious health consequences.

If you are interested in chelating heavy metals from your body, cilantro appears to be one of the most natural ways to do so. So how much should one eat and for how long?

Some people recommend eating two tablespoons daily of a cilantro pesto for about three weeks.

Also, many recommend taking chlorella with the cilantro, saying the chlorella helps to bind the mercury and flush it out. Others say MSM and garlic work as well.

This isn’t an exact science by any means. I am not an expert on this and am just learning about it myself. Here are some links I have found. I don’t advocate any of the opinions on these sites or vouch for the facts therein. I just provide them to let you know about the different ideas that there are on the topic:

Cilantro Helps Eliminate Mercury

Heavy Metal Toxicity

Cilantro Chelation – That Can Save Your Life

I also recommend Googling for “cilantro chelation” and “cilantro mercury” to find people discussing the issue.