Diseases Induced by Heavy Metal Exposure and their Ameliorative Phytochemicals: A Review doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v4i9.1

Abstract

Indiscriminate disposal of refuse and industrial effluents have continued to introduce toxic chemicals into our environment. Most of these toxic wastes, particularly the heavy metals are colourless, hence, the silent access which they often gain into the human body via food and water. This has increasingly posed deleterious effects on public health globally in the twentyfirst century. Relevant ublications were primarily sourced from Science Direct (a major contributor to the Scopus database) using “heavy metals; toxicity; amelioration; herbs, treatment” as keywords. This article gives an overview of health risk factors, the pathogenic health effects of common heavy metals and the sustainable route to their amelioration using natural products with heavy metal chelating potential in different animal models. The incorporation of these herbs in diets and the direct therapeutic applications of crude plant extracts, fractions and isolates enhance the human defense system against the various diseases which are usually associated with the consumption of heavy metal contaminated food and water.