Toxins, Part Two ― What You Should Know About Them and What You Can Do About Them
By Stan M. Gardner, M.D.

It has been a while since my articles have appeared in Meridian Magazine!  My typist broke her wrist and that has slowed down the process.  I apologize.  If you need to look up my previous article on Toxins to familiarize yourself with the topic, please click here.

In the first of the series on Toxins, we discussed general toxins and their harmful effects.  This article will address the treatment options, starting with ways you can avoid toxins and then with nutritional approaches that will strengthen your detoxifying systems in the body, thereby making the substances less harmful. 

Avoidance

Avoidance was especially brought to my attention when we discovered the harmful effects of dust on my wife.  She stayed a few nights in another city when our ninth grandchild was born recently, and she awakened two mornings in a row, with no nasal congestion (which she had always experienced in our older home).  We assumed her congestion was dust-related, so I took all the bedding and pillows outside, and pounded the dust out of them.  This provided minimal improvement in the symptoms, so I dusted everything in the room, including pictures, shelves, tabletop surfaces, window treatments, and wiped down all the walls and vacuumed the floor.  We noted another improvement of about 50%.  Because the symptoms still persisted somewhat, we took the mattress outside and my son and I pounded it with our trusty tennis rackets.  It looked like steam was coming off the mattress with each hit, which was done until both my son and I could no longer pound on the mattress.  The subsequent morning, and ever since, my wife’s ability to breathe clearly was as good as it had ever been.  Avoidance is the first step toward eliminating the effects of toxins in our bodies.

Let me list some key categories that we need to be aware of in learning what to embrace ― and what to avoid.  I’ll expound on them following the list (most items on this list come from Doris Rapp, M.D.’s best seller, Common Unsuspected Household Items that Can Make Your Family Sick):

1. Eat organically grown food
1. Grass fed beef
2. Fruits and vegetables you grow yourself are best
3. When barbecuing, choose lean cuts, avoid charring, flip meats frequently, cook with fruits and vegetables on grill [i]
2. Use air purifiers
3. Use water purifiers
4. Use stainless steel pans (avoid Teflon pans) [ii] [iii]
5. Avoid chemicals
1. Pesticides inside or outside home
2. Herbicides
3. Permit outgassing of new carpets and furniture [iv]
4. Use glass whenever possible instead of plastic to store food
   i.      Never heat food in plastics or baby bottles [v] [vi]

6. Air out freshly dry cleaned clothes
7. Stop using fingernail polish and remover
8. Avoid hair dyes
9. Use non-fluoridated toothpaste and water
10. Buy natural personal care items, such as deodorants without aluminum or scents, disinfectants, soaps, laundry cleaners, fabric softeners, cosmetics, body lotions, scents, sprays, and sanitary products (some products contain bleach and dioxin)
11. Avoid fresh paint, turpentine, plywood, particle board, solvents (toluene, xylene, benzene)
12. Discard smelly marking pens and correction fluid
13. Use natural oils instead of mothballs
14. Avoid smelly (from ink) newspapers, copy paper
15. Some form-fitting mattresses and pillows contain toxic chemicals
16. Repair faulty ventilation systems and furnaces

Of course, it is nearly impossible to do all of these things with 100% accuracy, especially in today’s world.  But you will be able to positively affect your body by focusing more and more on natural, healthful products to wear, surround yourself with, and consume.

If we grow our own food, then we know what, if any, toxins, have been used in the process.  We do not know the extent of chemical presence on food when the food is purchased — producers spray to keep bugs away, to enhance growth and ripening, and to affect flavor.  Food is also coated with chemicals to preserve them, which is why we have always been told to wash our food.  However, it is pretty difficult to remove all of the harmful chemicals.  If we don’t grow our own food, we should be buying organically grown food.  Organically grown food ordinarily doesn’t look as good, because it doesn’t preserve as well. 

One year we planted sixteen tomato plants, two weeks too late.  They developed into HUGE tomato plants, and were just beginning to turn red, when the fear of frost was upon us in the fall.  Very few of the tomatoes were actually eaten before we decided to pull them all up and drag them, plants and all, into the garage.  By the time we had put all the plants in the garage, they reached about eight feet in height and occupied a full car spot.  They matured on the vine, and we continued to eat the beautiful, delicious, red ripe tomatoes through the early winter.  I recall in the middle of December picking the last tomato off of all those vines.  It was rather small, wrinkled, and rather unappealing to the eye; however, the taste was still maintained.  It took us over a month to purchase our first beautiful, red tomato from the store, and upon tasting it, we almost spit it out!  Clearly, the food industry has learned how to sell beautiful things with very little taste or nutritive value. 

Organically grown food includes meats, as well.  Brigham Young commented on beef: “The beef fed upon our mountain grasses is as healthy food as we need at present.  Beef, so fattened, is as good as wild meat, and is quite different in its nature from stall-fed meat.”   For several years we were able to obtain grass fed beef from some friends of ours, and we enjoyed the delicious flavor.  We were not concerned about growth enhancements, steroids, or antibiotic use, and we knew the cow was healthy when it was butchered.  If you would like to explore healthy food ideas further, check out my previous articles in the Meridian Magazine archives (http://www.meridianmagazine.com/healthyoutlook/index.html).

When you cook your food, it is best to use a stainless steel pan rather than nonstick-coated ones, because nonstick coating outgasses are toxic at high temperatures.  After years of using Teflon pans (because we didn’t know differently), we saved up and bought a quality set of stainless steel pans.  Properly seasoned and used, these pans are wonderful!  So we have realized that Teflon is not necessary for a non-stick surface.  You can do just fine with high quality stainless steel.

Nutritional Support

1. Protein intake is important.  If you have a protein deficiency, your ability to metabolize toxins is diminished.
2. Vitamins:         
1. Vitamin E: stabilizes the membranes of all the 30 trillion cells in our body and is an antioxidant 
2. Beta carotene: provides the same benefits as Vitamin E
3. Vitamin C: is well known as an antioxidant; also it is a specific protection against the toxicity of cadmium, lead phenol, phenylqu molin, carboxylic acid, barbiturate ozone-induced pulmonary edema, oxygen toxicity and carbon tetrachloride toxicity.  It also reduces toxicity of pesticides, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, PCB, and acetaminophen.  As if this isn’t enough, it also prevents the nitrosamine formation from nitrites, and helps to degrade xenobiotics in the liver.
4. Thiamine (Vitamin B1):  there is an increased need for thiamine with formaldehyde, alcohol and Candida exposure.  Thiamine restores the oxidized or free radical glutathione back to its reduced or antioxidant form.  Deficiencies of thiamine increase toxicity of PCBs, dieldrin, heptachlor, and aniline dyes.  TTFD (one of many forms of thiamine) provides protection from carbon tetrachloride toxicity.
5. Riboflavin:  functions as a coenzyme (a substance that assists an enzyme to work at a faster and more efficient rate) in the cytochrome P450 system, which is a major detoxifying system in the liver.  It also facilitates the destruction of azodyes in the liver.
6. Niacin:  is needed for drug metabolism, and is an important part of phase I in the two-phase process necessary for detoxification of chemicals (NADH/NADPH reducing system).
7. Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6):  if this vitamin is deficient, the body is more sensitive to chlorine, chlorite, aldehydes, alcohol, and ammonia.  Carbon disulfide, PCB and penicillamine disrupt Vitamin B6 function, which subsequently causes a drop in taurine levels.  It is the drop in taurine levels which leads to the sensitivity of the above compounds.
8. Vitamin A:  Vitamin A helps to minimize the toxicity of DDT and PCB (organophosphates).  Organophosphates cause decreases in Vitamin A, which increases the organophosphate toxicity.  This creates a vicious cycle.  A deficiency of Vitamin A also causes an increase in benzo(a) pyrene binding to the trachea, irritating the trachea.

3. Minerals:
1. Magnesium:  is needed for more enyme systems than any other single mineral in the body, including NADPH cytochrome reductase, cytochrome P450, hydroxylation of aniline and demethylation of aminopyrene.
2. Zinc:  is necessary for healthy enzyme function and maintaining glutathione levels.  It is needed for xenobiotic detoxification as well.  However, if zinc is in excess, it actually interferes with the cytochrome P450 system.
3. Selenium:  is required for glutathione pyroxidase, which maintains the membrane integrity and is needed in phase II xenobiotic conjugation.  It also reduces the toxicity of lead and increases the biliary secretion of cadmium and mercury.

4. Other Important Nutritional Supplements:
1. Glutathione: is one of the most important antioxidants in the body.  It is available through injections, transdermal applications, and from food sources such as asparagus, broccoli, spinach and avocadoes.   It is needed in phase I and II detoxification pathways; it quenches peroxide molecules in the body (especially in the liver).  Glutathione levels are elevated by supplementation with selenium, NAC, cysteine, and vitamins A and E.
2. Milk thistle:  (silybarum marianum) is the most potent liver protecting substance known and is especially important for carbon tetrachloride galactosamine and ethanol exposures.  It also functions as an antioxidant and a membrane stabilizer.  Interestingly, it stimulates glutathione levels.  It inhibits the inflammatory effects of leukotrienes and prostaglandins.
3. Turmeric:  (curcuma longa) provides liver protection from the toxins carbon tetrachloride and acetaminophen; it is an excellent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.  It has the capability of increasing bile output and its solubility.  Turmeric is also anti-carcinogenic and is effective in decreasing gas production.
4. Alpha lipoic acid: another good support for liver function.

How Do We Release Toxins from Fat?

The best way to get rid of toxins in the body is through sweating.  Exercise is highly effective in this regard, if sweating takes place.  A lot of us can’t exercise enough to sweat!  Saunas are another good way to encourage sweating.  A steam sauna is the most common, but people who have heart problems or are elderly need to be careful of the high heats engendered in a steam sauna.  The best kind of sauna I have encountered is a FIR (far infrared) sauna. [vii]   It has been shown to remove phthalates, hexachlorobenzenes, PCBs, and Agent Orange.  It also lowers lactic acid in muscles an stimulates endorphins.  The frequency of the FIR range is capable of energizing water molecules, which permit them to assist in the mobilization and removal of toxins. 

In my office, we provide patients with an IV procedure, which infuses the body with phosphatidylcholine and glutathione.  These are especially effective when the liver is excessively challenged.  The procedure regenerates and protects the liver against toxicity.  Phosphatidylcholine is the most abundant phospholipid for the normal functioning of the cell membrane.  It decreases in the body with age.  The aging body replaces the phosphatidylcholine with sphingomyelin and cholesterol, which are not as beneficial.

Other ways to release toxins in the body include colonic irrigation [viii] or coffee enemas, which get rid of the toxins in the bile (including chlorinated pesticides).  Depending on your inclinations, there are homeopathic drainage formulas that can also assist in the release of toxins from specific organs, or the body in general. 

An additional very important point to consider as you look at ways to relieve your body of toxins is to look at the emotional components that have brought you to your current level of health or sickness.  We literally become what we think about.  Experiences from our past and our emotional reaction to them can manifest later in some physical symptoms of disease.  Often it is helpful to look at the symptoms from the standpoint of emotional cause; they can help you to learn the source of your illness and help you in getting better.  Sometimes acupuncture or Jin Shin Jyutsu or other energy techniques can be most helpful in ridding the body of toxins.  A good massage therapist can help as well.  Be sure to drink plenty of water as your body detoxifies.  You will feel improved when your body is able to “flush” out the toxic waste, and pure clean water is the best way to clear out the body’s systems.