Welcome to Straight Talk on Health, I’m your host Dr. Chet Zelasko. Straight Talk on Health. is a joint production with WGVU in Grand Rapids MI. I examine the practical application of health information. Nutrition. Exercise. Diet. Supplementation. I look at the science behind them, and let you know whether it’s something to consider or not. You can check out other things that I do on my website Drchet.com and sign up for my free emails.
I’m in the process of preparing the second edition of my book Real-Life Detox. I’m going to remove some material and post it to my website as the science has evolved. I thought I would give you a preview of what will be available by sharing a toxin story that happened right here in MI as well as a brief explanation of the detoxification process.
In the early 1970s, powerful toxins entered the food supply in the state of Michigan: a fire retardant called polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) was accidentally mixed with animal feed. Fire retardant is a good addition to many items, but it’s not something you want in your food. This was a particularly nasty toxin for any living thing. How it happened is not exactly clear, but instead of supplementing cattle, chickens, and pig feed with magnesium, the feed was supplemented with PBBs. The results were catastrophic to the animals and subsequently the humans who ate the meat from those animals before the problem was discovered.
Because the exposure to the animals was so vast, many developed significant health problems to the skin, kidneys, liver, and other organs. The source of the problem wasn’t determined for a year; during that time, people in Michigan ate the eggs, milk, and meat from the animals. Were other areas of the country affected? The food tracking system wasn’t as sophisticated then as it is now; there’s no evidence the problem spread to other areas, but no proof it didn’t.
Just like the animals, people were exposed to the PBBs and had immediate health issues such as skin rashes, hair loss, and joint pain. Emory University has taken over tracking the people that were exposed to examine long-term health effects (1).
Once the cause of the contamination was discovered, the animals were destroyed. The economic cost to the state’s farming economy was devastating. But that’s not where our story ends—that’s where our story begins.
You see, PBBs are fat soluble; that means they’re stored in the fat cells of humans as well as animals. When we ate the animals, we ate the PBBs or the breakdown metabolites of PBB in the animals. Studies also indicate that the PBBs are excreted very slowly—researchers estimate that it would take 60 years to reach a level below one part per billion, the acceptable safe level (2). That implies there’s a safe level, but that’s never been established.
Sixty years! That means we’re just now getting to the point where the PBBs are in the final process of elimination for those who were exposed. We know that there are 100s if not 1000s more chemicals to deal with including Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS are a group of synthetic chemicals that are resistant to water, grease, and heat. PFAS are known as forever chemicals because they don’t break down easily. That includes in our body.
The one thing that we know today is that we’ve been exposed to dozens if not hundreds of toxins from herbicides, pesticides, petroleum by-products from plastics, solvents, minerals such as lead, and many, many more in the air we breathe, the homes we live in, the cars we drive, and the places we work. Something as innocuous as the markers we use on whiteboards or the off-gassing of the new carpet we put in our homes are sources of chemicals that must be dealt with by our body’s detoxification system on a regular basis.
While we have no significant examples of toxin exposure to humans through food since the event in Michigan, some of the toxins we’re exposed to today are fat soluble and stay with us for long periods and maybe some, like PFAS, forever. We may be able to deal with those that are water soluble, depending how effectively our detoxification system is working.
The obvious solution is to avoid all potential toxins—effective, but not realistic for those of us who live and work in modern society. If you can’t avoid exposure, what do you do? Work to maximize the ability of your body to detoxify regularly. The question is this: is detox a real thing? It’s seems like more hype than hope so let me give you the science of detoxification next.
Detoxification is the process of eliminating natural and man-made toxins from the body; it’s something our body does naturally if we eat a diet full of the correct nutrients. Those nutrients include vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients; other nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids and amino acids may contribute to the process and support the vegetables and fruits.
And that seems to be the issue in modern society: our poor diet, with so many refined foods, contains a multitude of chemicals. While detoxification is completely natural, it doesn’t work well in most people. So for our purpose, we’ll define detoxification as refreshing and restoring the biochemical systems in the body. The idea is that removing toxic substances from our bodies can help us feel better and improve our health. To that end, let’s look at the science of detoxification.
The liver is the most important organ in the detoxification process. Are other organs involved? Sure—the digestive system absorbs nutrients and then eliminates some toxins, and the kidneys eliminate other toxins, but the bulk of the work is done in the liver.
The Detoxification System: The liver is the most important organ in the natural detoxification process of the body and does the job with enzymes, proteins that speed up chemical reactions. There are two enzyme systems in the liver to detoxify the body: the phase one and phase two detoxification systems.
The phase 1 detoxification system is responsible for eliminating fat-soluble substances from the body, substances that are not soluble in water but only in fat. That means they can’t be eliminated via the digestive system because they’re in the liver, and they can’t be eliminated via the kidneys unless they’re transformed into water-soluble substances. The chemicals that are fat soluble and must be transformed include medications, pesticides, food additives, alcohol, and other contaminants. The phase 1 enzymes transform most of these substances from fat soluble to water soluble.
That sets up the phase 2 detoxification system. Along with other water-soluble toxins, phase 2 eliminates the now-processed chemicals from phase 1. Fat-soluble substances have been converted to water-soluble substances and can be eliminated through urine, sweat, and feces.
Both detoxification systems can be enhanced by eating the right foods and eliminating some stimulants and food additives. The only common element I’ve found in the research that consistently helps our body detoxify itself are two categories of plant foods: the sulforaphane class and the allium class.
Sulforaphane foods include those such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, and many other cruciferous vegetables. While sulforaphanes works in both phase 1 and phase 2, it’s used more in the phase 1 system.
The allium-containing foods are in the onion-and-garlic class of foods and are primarily used in the phase 2 system. Add foods such as antioxidant-containing fruits with vitamin C, and you have the foods that help your liver detoxify your body. If you eat them every day, your liver and entire body gets the benefit.
But understand the complexity of the detoxification system. I would not be doing you a service if I led you to think detoxification process is as simple as I just explained. I think that’s probably enough science for the layperson—I don’t want your eyes glazing over—but keep in mind that it’s much more complicated. As the second edition gets ready for launch, there will be more details about the detoxification process on my website. That’s it for now because I’m all out of time. This is Dr. Chet Zelasko saying health is a choice. Choose wisely today and every day.
1. http://www.pbbregistry.emory.edu
2. Toxicological Profile For Polybrominated Biphenyls And Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services. Public Health Service. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. September 2004
