Today I read a very interesting article in ScienceDaily.com (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130912104814.htm) about cilantro being a way to filter chemical and heavy metals.
Favorite ingredient in Mexico and Southeast Asia could be an inexpensive way of purifying drinking water are on the menu today at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.
Research done by students at a community college, Douglas Schauer, Ph.D., said that cilantro (coriander or Thai parsley)shows promise as a "biosorbent" that removes lead and other toxic heavy metals from contaminated water.
"Cilantro may seem too pricey for use in decontaminating large amounts of water for drinking and cooking," Schauer said. "However, cilantro grows wild in vast amounts in countries that have problems with heavy-metal water pollution. It is readily available, inexpensive and shows promise in removing certain metals, such as lead, copper and mercury, that can be harmful to human health.""Our goal is to find biosorbents that people in developing countries could obtain for nothing," Schauer explained. "When the filter in a water purification pitcher needs to be changed, they could go outside, gather a handful of cilantro or some other plant, and presto, there's a new filter ready to purify the water."
Methods for removing heavy metals from water such as treatment with activated carbon which is used in filters in our homes are effective as well. These methods however are somewhat expensive for developing countries. Cilantro is a lower-cost alternative for these countries. Natural materials attach to heavy metals and absorb and adsorb.
Mexico doesn't have a system to filter out heavy metals and that cilantro is grew wildly there. Small experiments say that cilantro will be more effective than carbon to remove heavy metals.
How does cilantro filter water? The structure of the outer walls of cilantro explain it. These walls have a system of sorption so they work as biosorbents. Plants similar to cilantro such as parsley and culantro would work as biosorbents when used like tea bags that are put into water.
This article is very interesting to me because now smaller countries including ours will have a way to obtain purified water and not waste so much money on carbon filters. Not only is it very inexpensive but fast way of purifying water so we don't have to worry about heavy metals entering our bodies. This encourages small countries to live a healthier life and a contribution to the future seeing as now we have a biological way of improving our health.
