Steve Yap
IT IS ESTIMATED that from birth till age 50, we would have ‘consumed’ up to two tons of toxic wastes from our food, water, beverages, medications, and environmental pollution.
Since we’re constantly being exposed to toxic metals and chemicals, we may never be able to remove all toxins from our blood, brain or body tissues. Being bio-accumulative, these metals present in blood of an expecting mother could be passed on to her foetus through its placenta.
Consequently, heavy metal toxicity has been linked to higher incidence of autism, attention deficit disorder, and mental retardation in children.
► Role of liver
Oil-based toxins may be processed for removal by our liver. Phase I detoxification requires nutrients such as magnesium, zinc, vitamins Bs, ascorbic acid, niacin, and folate.
Magnesium is a cofactor in over 300 enzymatic reactions involving energy metabolism, protein and nucleic acid synthesis.
Excess calcium intake or consuming black tea, soft drinks, salt, or alcohol lowers this mineral in our body. Zinc is required for some 300 catalytic functions in various bodily enzymes whereas niacin is used in more than 200 co-enzymes.
Nutrients for the complex 6 sub-phases of Phase II include taurine, sulphoraphane, alpha lipoic acid, glutathione, magnesium, vitamins B1, B5 and B6, molybdenum, curcumin, glucoronic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, N-acetyl-cysteine, and other sulphur-based amino acids.
If there’s more rapid clearance of toxins during Phase 1 compared to Phase 2, the accumulation of toxic load can worse your liver functions. Fat cells can store more than a hundred times more chemical toxins than in other tissues.
Toxins can travel to vital organs such as the brain, heart, endocrine glands, as well as to joints and tissues throughout the body triggering pain, discomfort, and bodily dysfunction.
► Bile flow obstruction
Dehydration or consuming excessive amount of refined starch/sugar leading to elevated blood triglyceride levels can slow bile flow.
Fruit sugar and alcoholic beverages promote fatty liver. Bile acid can harden to form ‘gallstones’ that obstruct bile flow.
Under no circumstance should a detox programme be initiated if there’s evidence of bile flow obstruction. Most gallstones may be safely ‘softened’ and emptied into intestines.
► Mercury and other chemicals
The principal sources of this highly toxic metal can come from dental amalgam (silver fillings) and seafood.
It is also found in soil and drinking water in many countries.
According to Edlich et al. 2007, amalgam restorative material contains 50% mercury, which emits toxic vapor during food chewing, teeth brushing, or drinking hot beverages.
US-FDA (2013) listed several medicines as containing mercury ingredients.
Almost all salt-water fish contain some methyl-mercury, which is highly damaging to human. Bigger fish that are higher in the food chain have the highest levels of mercury in their flesh.
Smaller items of seafood tend to have lower toxicity levels and these include ikan bilis, angels, snapper, sotong, octopus, prawn, sardine, trout, clams, and shellfish.
According to WHO (2013), exposure to mercury can cause serious health problems such as dysfunction to our nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.
Complementary medicine uses nutraceuticals to promote its elimination from the body.
Lead toxicity can come from batteries, home renovations, auto repair centres, lead-based paint, lead-contaminated dust in older buildings, as well as from contaminated air, water and soil.
According to the Mayo Clinic (2013), signs and symptoms in adults may include hypertension, headache, memory loss, mood disorders, weak mental functioning, abdominal pain, numbness or tingling in arms and legs, muscular weakness, low sperm count, infertility, miscarriage or premature birth in pregnant women.
Organic arsenic found in fish, prawn, clams, and other seafood are generally non-toxic.
Most insecticides, herbicides, or rodenticides used in farming contain the highly toxic inorganic arsenic which can be carried into our drinking water and food chain.
Farmed poultry may contain the highest levels of arsenic, due to the chicken feed containing various types of antibiotics.
Symptoms after exposure include blood disorders, drowsiness, headaches, and confusion.
Cadmium toxicity can come from cigarette smoke, dry batteries, industrial wastes, fungicides sprayed on food, and even drinking water.
It is being linked to breast cancer, kidney damage and osteoporosis or skeletal damage.
It damages our nervous and enzyme activities, while impairing metabolism of important minerals such as zinc, calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper and sodium.
Symptoms of elevated cadmium may include high blood pressure, poor appetite, dry scaly skin, hair loss, lowered immunity, and loss of sense of smell.
Aluminum exposure comes primarily from our diet such as acidic or spicy foods cooked with aluminum foil or in aluminum cookware, water boiled using aluminum container, coffee/tea beverages brewed/stored in aluminum containers, sliced/processed cheeses, cake mixes, self-rising flour, chocolate mixes, non-dairy creamers used in coffee/tea mixes, canned soft drinks/beverages, toothpaste, shampoos, anti-perspirants, antacids and pain-relieving medications.
Its toxicity may result in higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, poor memory, learning/ behavioural disorders as well as fatigue, infertility, liver and skin diseases, and gastrointestinal problems.
Don’t self-detox, seek guidance from a registered complementary medicine practitioner.
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/889597
