Molybdenum poisoning

Page most recently updated 7 September 2026

This page focuses on the reported psychiatric associations, which may be the initial presenting manifestation, and on other clinical features that may assist the psychiatrist or primary care physician in identifying the underlying diagnosis, considered through the lenses of the diagnostic lenses framework.

Molybdenum poisoning is a rare toxicologic disorder that can produce neurological and multisystemic manifestations, with clinical features varying according to the dose, chemical form, route, and duration of exposure. A distinctive presentation may include the combination of acute psychiatric or behavioural change, psychosis, seizures, and a relevant exposure to molybdenum-containing products.

Exposure clues include excessive or prolonged use of molybdenum-containing dietary supplements or other products, as well as occupational exposure in mining, metal processing, foundry, and other industrial settings. Exposure may also occur in regions with unusually high environmental molybdenum levels, particularly where soil or drinking water contains elevated molybdenum. The available human evidence for clinically significant toxicity is limited, and acute poisoning appears to be rare.

It can present with psychiatric features such as acute behavioural change, cognitive impairment, emotional disturbance, and, in the reported case of acute poisoning from a molybdenum-containing dietary supplement, prominent psychosis with visual and auditory hallucinations.

Other characteristic features include seizures, which may occur alongside acute neuropsychiatric manifestations, as well as persistent cognitive and executive difficulties following severe toxicity.

From a multisystemic lens perspective, clinical features in other body systems include (but are not limited to):

  • Respiratory: Cough, dyspnea and reduced lung function, particularly following occupational inhalational exposure to molybdenum oxide dusts.

  • Musculoskeletal: Arthralgia and gout-like symptoms associated with elevated uric acid levels, particularly with chronic or excessive exposure.

Early diagnosis is important because severe molybdenum toxicity can produce significant neurological and systemic complications. Prompt recognition allows removal from the exposure source, appropriate toxicologic assessment, and management of neurological, respiratory, renal, and metabolic complications.

Selected references and further reading — Multisystemic lens

Cardinal RN, Bullmore ET. The diagnosis of psychosis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2011.

Sachdev PS, Keshavan MS, editors. Secondary schizophrenia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2010.

Levenson JL, editor. The American Psychiatric Association Publishing textbook of psychosomatic medicine and consultation-liaison psychiatry. 3rd ed. Washington (DC): American Psychiatric Association Publishing; 2019.

Stern TA, Beach SR, Smith FA, Freudenreich O, Vranceau AM, Fava M, editors. Massachusetts General Hospital handbook of general hospital psychiatry. 8th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier; 2025.

Arciniegas DB, Yudofsky SC, Hales RE, editors. The American Psychiatric Association Publishing textbook of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences. 6th ed. Washington (DC): American Psychiatric Association Publishing; 2018.

Agrawal N, Faruqui R, Bodani M, editors. Oxford textbook of neuropsychiatry. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2020.

Boland R, Verduin M, editors. Kaplan and Sadock's comprehensive textbook of psychiatry. 11th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer; 2024.

Loscalzo J, Fauci AS, Kasper DL, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL, editors. Harrison's principles of internal medicine. 22nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 2025.