Body Detoxification

Sources of Toxicity

Over the last one hundred years (especially after WWII), we have introduced tens of thousands of man-made toxins to our environment[5,16]. Your bodies are not genetically designed to deal with these levels and types of toxins that are accumulating in your tissues.

These known or potential toxins come into your households or environments and eventually your bodies in various forms and through different pathways. Below we have listed some of them:

When toxins enter your body, they can be found especially in fat cells, and in the liver, kidneys, and large and small intestines. For example, the intestines can build up mucus and putrefaction and nutrients are not properly absorbed; then poisons are absorbed back into your bloodstream.

Common Symptoms of Toxic Overload

Toxic overload can manifest itself in many symptoms and the sources can be elusive to identify. Some of them won't even become serious health concerns in some people's eyes. Some symptoms could even be mistaken to be a flu or cold. If your body is toxic overloaded, you might have some of the following symptoms:

Natural Detoxification System

Human evolved numerous protective mechanisms to detoxify, counter, destroy, or neutralize the carcinogenic assault. For example, the body has sensors that trigger the rejection of bad stuff before it breathed in or digested,which explains your natural aversions to certain smells or tastes, and the substances are taken in[7]. Your major organs of detoxification (i.e., elimination system) include:

Most people think toxins are eliminated from your body in sweat and urine, but actually most are discharged in bile from the liver that empties into the stools[6].  Detoxification in liver happens in two phases, both dependent on some important enzymes to do the job.

Individual cells of your body also come equipped with the means to flush out a full range of toxins.   At molecular level, glutathione (pronounced "gloota-thigh-own") is the body's major detoxifier.  The tripeptide glutathione (γ-l-glutamyl-l-cysteinyl-glycine: GSH in its reduced form, GSSG in its oxidized form) is the most abundant thiol-containing molecule in most living organisms.  

Thiol-containing molecules play an essential role in protecting cells against oxidative damage. They react with reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in the neutralization of these potentially dangerous molecules.  GSH is also involved in the detoxification of xenobiotics and resistance to heavy metal stress. This detoxification capacity is due to the highly nucleophilic properties of the thiol moiety of GSH. For example, the role of glutathione in cadmium detoxification is well documented[9].

Why Detoxification?

Even your body is equipped with natural detoxification system as discussed, it's not enough. The reason is that your poor diet, pollution, toxins, medications, stress, trauma, aging, infections, bad gut flora, and radiation all can undermine your body's natural detox.[24] Your liver often gets overloaded and can't keep up with the need to make more glutathione, making it unable to do its job of detoxification.

Also, free radicals from toxins lead to oxidative stress, which damages your mitochondria, the cell's energy factory. This leads to overexcitation of cells and inflammation. When your protective systems break down, it leads to toxic build-up and more free radicals and oxidative stress and more inflammation. Eventually, infections and cancer result.

The Herxheimer Reaction

When your body is cleansing faster than it can eliminate toxins, you will experience Herxheimer's "die-off" reaction. A Herxheimer reaction is a healing crisis that occurs when the body is detoxifying too rapidly and toxins are being released faster than the body can eliminate them. Jarisch Adolf Herxheimer and his brother found that when treating their patients, many of them developed severe physical reactions to the treatments before shifting into a healing phase. The patients were usually very ill for 2 or 3 days, after which they began to feel better.

The "die-off" reaction occurs when toxic microbes in your body are starved of the foods that feed them, such as sugar, dairy, and alcohol; or they are exposed to antimicrobial herbs, which kill them off. The cell-wall proteins of these microbes are absorbed through the body's weakened mucous membrane and eliminated. However, if this is happening too fast, there will be too many dead microbes in your system and we may experience uncomfortable symptoms.

An initial healing crisis usually lasts around 3 days, but if your immunity is low, it may last a week or more. The severity of these reactions will vary from person to person depending on immune strength, bowel function,[18] and how your organs of detoxification are working.

How to Enhance Your Body's Detoxification

The most important set of biochemical pathways in your body are the pathways responsible for keeping two specific biochemical processes running smoothly. They are the "methylation" and the "sulfation" pathways. Many critical steps of your biology depend on these pathways running smoothly and constantly.

For example, Glutathione needs to be continually rebuilt and replenished from your diet and can only be produced if both the methylation and sulfation cycles are running smoothly. Any break in that process leads to toxic build-up and more free radicals and oxidative stress and more inflammation.

We make glutathione from foods that contain sulfur—garlic and onions, cruciferous vegetables, egg yolks, and most forms of protein. All these contain an amino acid called cysteine, the basic building block of glutathione. Add a few more amino acids like glycine and glutamine and a few vitamins (B6, B12, folate), and voila, the magic of the methylation and sulfation pathways produces a little glutathione molecule.

Your defenses also depend on antioxidants which are naturally produced or taken in the diet mainly from plants. Antioxidants function as a kind of antidote that mops up free radicals, the by-products of liver's detoxification, before they have a chance to inflict their oxidative damage.

Finally, we conclude this article with the following detoxification approaches:

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