Lead is ubiquitous in our environment and is known to be toxic to the brain.
Researchers report that exposure to lead has been linked to Depression and Anxiety disorders.
This was reported in the December issue of the medical journal Archives of General Psychiatry.
Researchers studied data from almost 2000 adults aged 20 to 39 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2004.  The study authors examined the young adults for evidence of Major Depression, Panic Disorder or Anxiety Disorder.  The participants were also evaluated for blood lead levels.

The researchers report that the young adults in this study who had lead levels of 2.11 ?g/dL or more in their blood were 2.3 times more likely to be diagnosed with Major Depression and five times more likely to be diagnosed with Panic Disorder or Anxiety Disorder compared with lead blood levels of 0.7 ?g/dL or less.

Lead exposure is not uncommon.  Exposure to lead can come from contaminated water, pottery, tobacco smoke, leaded gasoline or paint.

Previous medical studies have indicated that lead blood levels above 6.3 ?g/dL were toxic and were associated with depression and anxiety disorders.  This is an important new finding in that it is teaching us that even very low levels of lead can cause disease and we should be very cautious of any exposure to environmental lead.

Cristopher Geiler, MD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66:1313-1319.