Metals used in health and medicine

Laying in a United States hospital bed after emergency abdominal surgery recently, I got to wondering about the role of metals and their compounds in our bodies and in their deliberate application to the body for healing and support purposes. The strong stainless steel staples (no doubt 18% chrome, 9% nickel), holding the 7-inch vertical wound together, gave it support. I am thankful blunt scalpels are now uncommon, as most are given a durable, super- sharp edge by using platinum.

In our world, we visualize copper, zinc, nickel, etc. in large output quantities and the impressive range of end-uses such as the countless electrical and other applications for copper.

Zinc, that bluish-white, crystal- like metal, conjures up a panorama of thousands of different diecastings in our cars, etc., in multi-use zinc galvanized steel sheet and so on. The vast quantities of stainless steel produced worldwide take large amounts of nickel and chromium, as do aircraft jet engines, where those metals provide turbine blades that operate at incredible temperatures for long periods. Minerals and health Equally fascinating, I think, is the lifetime use of metals and their compounds in the human body. Minerals, as you know, are absolutely vital for good health. Iron is essential to the health of blood cells, being needed to make haemoglobin to deliver oxygen to body tissues to provide energy and in protecting against infection.

Copper is vital to good health. It assists in the production of red blood cells and in bone structure. Manganese is also important in bone structure. Chromium helps the body in the digestion of carbohydrates and a deficiency can cause increased blood sugar. Workers in chromite mines are susceptible to the long-term lung disorder pneumoconiosis caused by breathing chromite dust. Zinc is important for growth, healthy skin and in wound healing.

Your body needs small but regular supplies of magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium. (With more than four billion people on this planet, these quantities really add up.) Magnesium is important in many chemical activities of the body and in the function of nerves and muscle contraction and storage and release of energy. Potassium is needed by all plants and animals to live; its importance is in the control of nerves and muscles. Sodium and calcium work together to regulate the contraction of muscle cells in blood vessels. Skin protection

Even more fascinating are those minerals applied to the body to improve health. We all meet zinc oxide when young as a skin protective used in ointments, but this oxide is also used as a drug to prevent spasms. Zinc acetate is a drug that causes vomiting and stops bleeding. Zinc gelatin is a protectant gel used for varicose veins and other lesions of the legs and the sulphate is an eye drug.

One cannot cover all metals and compounds here, but they include magnesium sulphate given by injection to prevent seizures. Potassium chloride is a drug to treat digitalis intoxication and low blood potassium, and the iodide is used to treat inflammation of the breathing tubes, asthma and other disorders.

My favorites are the extraordinary medicinal properties of the precious metals. Gold isotopes are used for examination of a person’s heart. The major use is in the uniquely successful remission of rheumatoid arthritis, but it demands careful control. With many more medical uses than gold, silver is a superstar performer. Even a minute amount kills bacteria, by activating oxygen. No bacteria are resistant to silver. The remarkable success of silver sulfadiazine has made it the world’s most important antibacterial in deep wounds and serious burn cases. This soothing compound prevents bacterial growth that can bring infection and death. A truly remarkable discovery is that silver induces human cells to revert to an embryonic state and in that state they repair injury more rapidly. T.P. (Tom) Mohide, a former president of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange, served as a director of mining resources with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources prior to his retirement in 1986.