Toxicity

Introduction

We live in a toxic world. During the Industrial Age we have filled our air, rivers, oceans, soil, and our food supply with toxic metals (see heavy metals section) and chemicals, biological toxins, electrical and electromagnetic toxicity, as well as ionizing radiation. Since 1913 there have been over 90,000 petrochemicals introduced into the world. The EPA has shown that 100% of human fat has carcinogenic dioxins, PCBs, and styrene. Xenoestrogens are thought to be responsible for a 30% reduction in male fertility. They have even found Teflon in the DNA of polar bears!

Curiously, we find disorders like autoimmune disease, cancer, heart disease, joint diseases, osteoporosis, and prostate issues as part of the “normal aging process”, rather than a “dis-ease” produced by our toxic environment leading to a total toxic body burden that in turn leads to premature aging and death.

Environment Medicine (EM) is a branch of medicine that looks for the physical, mental, or emotional health effects from exposure to toxic substances. EM at its best uses a holistic approach to multiple factors of health to evaluate how various toxins, pollutants, chemicals, and microbes (see fungal, yeast, and mycotoxin section) may be compromising our well-being. Toxicity as evaluated in EM is a fundamental part of understanding the contributing factors of Chronic Inflammatory Illness.

This section, and the Essentials Detoxification Questionnaire, will explore what could be an underlying factor in our health and well-being. We will be considering toxic substances like:

• Benzene, Butadiene, Formaldehyde, Methacrylates, Toluene, Xylene, and 4-PC found in carpets

• Chlorpyrifos and other pesticides

• Chemicals in city water (over 500 found by various studies)

• Disinfectants: Chlorine

• Environmental Endocrine Disruptors (EEDs)

• HCBs

• Methylmercury and other heavy metals (HM)

• Organic chemicals 

• Organophosphates (OPCs)

• Parabens

• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

• Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

• Phthalates (cosmetics)

• Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and dioxins from plastic manufacturing

• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

• Styrenes

• Sulfur and nitrogen oxides

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

• Xenobiotics/Xenoestrogens like plastics (BPA)

The field of toxicology studies how our bodies respond to various substances. We know that everyone does not respond to specific substances in the same way. There are multiple aspects that need to be considered when evaluating an individual’s susceptibility to toxins. Here are just a few:

• Age and gender of the person

• Amount or quantity of exposure

• Duration of the exposure

• Efficacy of the organs of elimination 

• Individual genetics

• Nature of the toxins

• Possibility of exposure to multiple toxins 

• Other medical conditions (comorbidities) such as heart disease, diabetes, etc

We are interested in all of the above to determine the build-up over time of these toxic materials. As our organs of elimination become overwhelmed, we are less effective at clearing these undesirable substances and can result in ”dis-ease”. Also we must consider that patients with underlying slow growing infections can result in another burden that our detoxification systems need to clear.

Again, being exposed to a toxicant or toxin does not mean that you will become sick from that exposure. Whether a specific toxic substance undermines your well-being is highly individual. One patient can smoke cigarettes for years and never develop cancer, while another could develop lung cancer after smoking for a short time, and still others may have never smoked a day in their life but have genomics such as an unfavorable detoxification system that when combined with toxins results in lung cancer.

Definitions

Detoxification

The part of our waste management system that is able to identify materials that our body cannot use. It is essentially a balancing system between what is coming in and what is going out.

Toxins

Substances created from natural sources, like those from plants, animals, or microbes such as bacteria that are harmful to humans.

Toxicants

A more general term that applies to any toxic substance. Toxicants can be poisonous and maybe man made such as pesticides, herbicides, and solvents. To make this confusing they are not synonymous.

All toxins (poisons produced naturally) are toxicants, but not all toxicants (naturally occurring and man made poisons) are toxins. Toxic materials can make our bodies sick. They include both toxins and toxicants.

Macro-elimination pathways include the major filtering organ system such as the gastrointestinal system, the liver, lymphatics, spleen, skin, and kidneys.

Micro-elimination pathways are related to how the cells process and remove waste such as methylation, gluconorization, sulfonification, among others.

Total (Toxic) Body Burden examines the load of toxins and toxicants stored in our body.This is usually a slow build up that gradually results in Chronic inflammatory Illness ? Syndrome, with symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, flat affect, muscle stiffness and joint pain and headaches to name just a few. This is different from what the field of Toxicology is interested in, toxicity that might cause an acute poisoning or death. Here we are focused on the exposures over time that the body can not clear and gradually accumulates in the tissues.

Common toxicants found in air, water, soil, and food:

• Toxic metals: lead, mercury, cadmium

• Organophosphates such as insecticides, nerve agents used as weapons, and even some medications

• Herbicides commonly known as weed killers such as glyphosate (aka Roundup)

• Toxic chemicals that could be in your home: Bisphenol A (BPA), formaldehyde, perchlorate, perchloroethylene, 2-butoxyethanol...  See all

Common toxins

Alcohol, carbon dioxide, stinging and biting insects, spiders like the brown recluse or black widow, poisonous mushrooms, botulism, toxic mold, bacterial and viral toxins.

Click here for an introductory list of toxic materials and how we could be exposed to them.

How our detoxification systems work

Toxic materials are substances that may cause harm to an individual if they enter or are produced by our bodies. And our bodies have multiple built-in systems to identify them as undesirable and move them to an exit route. Like a complex engine, raw materials come in, get used for energy, and what remains as waste is eliminated through detoxification.

Macro-elimination pathways are the ways our bodies move waste through the major organs of elimination. As the main exit route, the bowels or small and large intestines are fundamentally the most important part of our detox system. Our liver and kidneys are complex filtering organs which are designed to sort out the toxic materials and separate them from what our bodies need to survive. Once filtered, the liver empties toxins to the bowel, while the kidneys dump them into the bladder whereupon they are eliminated. The lungs have their exit route through respiration. The skin is the largest organ of the body and also involved in detox by backing up the blood, lymphatics, lungs, and even the gut.

Micro-elimination pathways are pathways usually on the cellular level that involve metabolic pathways monitored by the immune system, generally dependent on our genetics. On the micro detox pathway level every cell in our body has detoxification capacities, such as methylation and sulfonification. Each cell cannot be effective at clearing waste if the liver, lymphatics, spleen, and blood are not clearing. And they are less efficient if the bowel is overloaded.

Click here for more information on how our genes are determining factors of detoxification.

Macro and Micro levels of detoxification defined

Everything in our body, especially the detoxification system is about flow. The organs of our detox system are like a river, where the beginning of the river is the cell and the end of the river is the bowels (small and large intestines). We are much healthier and feel better when these systems are moving. Our body does not do well with stagnation. To optimize health we need to find where the flow of elimination is blocked, then we support the stuck organs/systems with its corresponding support organs, thus reducing the Total Toxic Body Burden. If we are unable to keep the river flowing, the systems backup and we are left with inflammation.

Exposure and behavior

Now that you have filled out the Essentials Detoxification Questionnaire you might have more questions about how and why your Total Toxic Body Burden is high and / or your Organs of Detox could be challenged and might be having difficulty keeping up.

Below are some questions that can help you understand if these areas should be further explored. After answering these questions you could go on to get more information by doing the QEESI Screening Survey developed by a research team at the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio.

Behaviors: Do you use these more than once a week?

• Drink alcoholic beverages?

• Exposed to someone smoking in doors or second hand smoke?

• Gas or propane stove used in your home?

• Hobbies that involve chemicals, fumes, or smoke?

• Home or workplace sprayed for insects or fumigants?

• Medications for sleep, depression/ anxiety or steroids?

• Perfume, hairspray, or other scented hygiene products?

• Recreational street drugs?

• Scented products like fabric softeners, air fresheners at home?

• Smoke or use tobacco products?

Exposures and sensitivities: Have you ever been exposed to or consider yourself sensitive to any of these?

Being sensitive means that an exposure could make you feel sick. An exposure could cause, for example, difficulty breathing, brain fog, upset stomach, dizziness, headache, or just feeling sick.

• Certain perfumes, air fresheners, or other fragrances?

• Chemotherapy?

• Cleaning products such as disinfectants, beach, bathroom or floor cleansers?

• Diesel or gas engine exhaust?

• Fresh tar or asphalt?

• Hormone Replacement with Non Bio-identical Hormones?

• Insecticides/Fungicides/Pesticides?

• New carpets, plastic shower curtain, or car?

• Paint and stains, or paint thinner?

• Tobacco or marajuana smoke or vaping?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you could benefit from a more specific survey: the Toxicant Induced Loss of Tolerance Questionnaire or TILT.

How are we exposed?

Here is a very simple introduction to sources of toxic materials that we could have been exposed to. We will break down each of these categories in more depth in a later section, helping you with laboratory tests, prevention, and treatment of these chemical toxicants and toxins.

Food pollution

Most common food pollutants: persistent organic pollutants (POPs), organophosphates (OCPs), pesticides (various herbicides, glyphosate)

• Xenobiotics: plastics, bisphenol A (BPA)

• Metals: aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, mercury

• Most contaminated food: sardines, farmed salmon, large carnivorous fish, conventional meats, the “dirty dozen” fruits and vegetables

Click here for the section: Food can make you ill (See the “Dirty Dozen”and the “Clean 15”)

Water pollution

• Most common water pollutants: microorganisms, disinfectants (chlorine inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, radionuclides)

• Metals: lead

• Primary sources: agricultural, industrial, and geological

• Primary disease associations: cancer, brain and nervous system damage, cardiovascular disease, developmental defects, infertility, reproductive dysfunctions, and hormone disruption

Indoor air pollution

• Most common indoor air pollutants: mold and mycotoxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), volatile organic compounds (PBDE), trihalomethanes, phthalates

• Most common sources: building materials, fabrics and carpeting, teflon pans, air fresheners, water damaged buildings, dust

Outdoor air pollution

• Primary sources: vehicular exhaust, gas and oil production, industry, agriculture

• Primary toxicants: particulate matter, volatile organic compounds (PBDE) and metals, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides

• Primary disease associations: Cardiovascular, neoplastic or tumor growth that can develop into cancer, respiratory, immune, neurologic, endocrine