Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. Originally published on October 17, 2016.
What is found in unfiltered water, cheese, grains, leafy greens, and liver? You’re right about molybdenum, but few realize that this little-known trace element is essential to every life on Earth.
Molybdenum is an important indicator for enzymes that facilitate the digestion of fats and carbohydrates and the breakdown of certain amino acids in your body.1 Its role is important for your health. Tooth enamel contains a large amount of molybdenum, and it helps to reduce the mineral Tooth decay.
In humans, molybdenum deficiency, although rare and usually only seen in those who are fed intravenously, leads to such issues. HeadacheRapid heartbeat, mental health problems and even coma. Deficiency symptoms include problems with uric acid production and decreased metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids.
It is good to have it in the foods listed above. However, the amount found in plant foods is directly related to how much is found in the soil. Molybdenum is available as a supplement in liquid and capsule form. Tetrathiomolybdate is a form of molybdenum and is effective in treating fibrotic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases as it reduces copper levels in the body.
As Livestrong reports, molybdenum is an important nutrient in soil and helps protect against cancer-causing agents known as nitrosamines in plant foods. Animal studies also show that:2,3
“(Molybdenum) remarkably inhibits lung and liver fibrosis, which is thickening and scarring of the tissue, protects the liver from damage from acetaminophen, and reduces heart damage from doxorubicin, a bacterial antibiotic. Tetrathiomolybdate also shows partial protection against diabetes.”
Technically speaking, for humans, molybdenum is known to act as a cofactor for four enzymes.
- Sulfite Oxide – This enzyme, which is vital to human health, catalyzes the rapid conversion of sulfite to sulfate.
- Xanthine oxidase – This enzyme breaks down nucleotides, DNA and RNA first, then they form uric acid, which helps to form blood clots in the plasma and fight reactive oxygen species (ROS) for the blood’s antioxidant capacity.
- Aldehyde oxidase and xanthine oxidase – These enzymes include many molecules with similar chemical structures and help to convert drugs and toxins.
- Mitochondrial amidoxime reductase (mARC) – Relatively new to its role in the body, mARC accelerates the elimination of certain toxins.4
Molybdenum and additional amounts
One way molybdenum helps you stay healthy is by breaking down what you eat, including proteins. It is stored for future use that is not used immediately, but most of it is excreted from the body in the urine. Interestingly, pasture-raised animals have larger bellies. In their digestive tract, sulfur and molybdenum-containing compounds form thiomolybdates, which prevent absorption of copper and trigger fatal copper-parasitic diseases.5
A similar problem occurs in humans, so thiomolybdate therapy is sometimes used to treat a genetic disorder called Wilson’s disease, which causes copper to accumulate and eventually damage your liver and brain. It is also used for infectious diseases and certain types of cancer. According to the Linus Paling Institute:6
“Copper is also important for enzymes involved in inflammation and angiogenesis, known to accelerate cancer growth and metastasis. (thiomolybdate) They are started in patients with high-risk diseases with the aim of preventing disease progression or relapse.
These pilot trials have shown promising results in individuals with metastatic kidney cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer, and breast cancer with a high risk of relapse.
Most people in the US get the molybdenum they need only through diet, which is preferable. But if this is not possible, supplementation is another option. Below are the recommended daily allowances (RDA) of molybdenum, according to the National Institute of Medicine. However, while these amounts may prevent deficiency, there is currently no scientific evidence that taking more is healthy. And it has been proven to be very harmful.
|
adults |
45 micrograms |
|
14 to 18 year olds |
43 micrograms |
|
Children from 9 to 13 years old |
34 micrograms |
|
Children from 4 to 8 years old |
22 micrograms |
|
Under 4 years |
17 micrograms |
|
Pregnant or lactating women |
50 micrograms |
Molybdenum-deficient soil linked to esophageal cancer
In areas without access to molybdenum-rich foods, low dietary molybdenum is associated with esophageal and gastric cancer. For example, in a small area in northern China, esophageal and stomach cancer rates were 10 times higher than the national average in China and 100 times higher than the average in the United States, one study found.7
“The soil in this region is low in molybdenum and other mineral elements, so the intake of dietary molybdenum is low.
Studies conducted in other areas with low and high incidence of esophageal cancer have shown that molybdenum and zinc content in hair and nails is significantly lower in residents of high-risk areas than in colder areas.
In addition, esophageal cancer patients have lower levels of trace elements compared to healthy relatives.
Adding ammonium molybdate to the soil is thought to reduce the incidence of cancer. But eating minerals, including molybdenum and vitamins found in China’s Linxian area, did nothing to reduce cancer death rates over a five-year period.8
At the same time, Rugao County in China’s Jiangsu Province is known for its octogenarian residents. Food habits, traditions and lifestyles are similar to the surrounding areas, with one difference – Rugao has a “large number” of different types of soil, which may be related to the amazing longevity of its inhabitants. According to a study published in the Journal of Environmental Geochemistry and Health:9
“Individuals over 90 years old per 100,000 inhabitants (90-rate) based on the village (about 4,000 inhabitants per 4 km (2)) are associated with trace elements in soil, drinking water and rice by correlation analysis. … in soil Similar relationships were found between nutrients in water and rice.
These results suggest that: (1) the forms of nutrients present in soil were more (important) than total nutrients in soil for elemental bioavailability in ecosystems and human health; and (2) the association of the above elements may positively influence the 90-fold and may be an important environmental geochemical factor affecting human longevity.
Nitrosamines and NMMG – known carcinogens
Scientists believe that the high incidence of some cancers is linked to dietary or environmental factors, including an increase in nitrosamines, which are carcinogens found in plant foods grown in molybdenum-deficient soils. Livestrong notes that:10
“When molybdenum is deficient in plants, nitrosamines are produced because nitrate reductase – the enzyme – cannot function properly without the molybdenum cofactor.”
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services National Toxicology Program report,11 In the case of tobacco use, saliva reduces nitrites to nitrites, which form harmful compounds in the gastrointestinal tract, an internal mechanism that is “the main cause of human exposure to N-nitrosamines.”
Additionally, the derivative MNNG (N-Methyl-N’-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine) has been shown to be “reasonably expected to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animal studies.” It has caused tumors in different animals through different types of exposure.
According to the UK’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, nitrosamines are more toxic to animal species than any other class of chemical carcinogens.12 Health effects of nitrosamines include cancer, organ toxicity, endocrine disruption, and more. Molybdenum’s antioxidant properties help break down toxins in your body, including cancer-causing nitrosamines from food and other sources.
