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Scientific approaches to detoxifying your body
Why detox?
Where I live, they only pick up the trash every two weeks. This is usually no problem, as we are mindful to compost and recycle all that we can and we avoid purchasing items with excessive packaging. This holiday season was a different story, however. We had a few parties, hosted some out-of-town guests, and wrapped – and unwrapped! – presents. We created a lot of joy, laughter, and memories. And trash. A lot of trash. The trash bin is completely filled, and three other bags are stacked next to it.
This might not be much of a problem if only my household stopped producing trash. We would just patiently wait and every two weeks pack another garbage bag or two into the bin. Or if only the bin was larger. Or if only the trash got picked up twice a week, instead of twice a month. Within a couple of weeks we’d be all clear!
Trouble is, that ain’t gonna happen.
What’s more, after a season of high stress, pretending to enjoy being around people non-stop when I’d rather be alone, stretching my budget, and indulging more than usual on sweets, alcohol, and various other treats, I think the “trash” has piled up in my body too. Thankfully, unlike the trash pickup situation at my house, the matter of my health is more pliable. I can stop – well, at least significantly reduce – the production of trash products within my body. And I can increase the rate at which the trash gets taken out, picked up, and hauled away.
Thank goodness for detox. ‘Tis the season for cleansing!
Here are some tried and true strategies for “taking out the trash” during detox season:
Reduce trash production in the body
Slowing down “trash production” in the human body includes abstaining from hard-to-digest, pro-inflammatory, high-glycemic, and low-nutritional value foods like alcohol, sugars, artificial sweeteners, refined carbohydrates, genetically-modified (GMO) foods, and gluten-containing grains.
This also means abstaining from any known food intolerances or foods you know your body doesn’t tolerate well. For instance, does dairy make you congested? Do raw tomatoes give you reflux? Does soy may your stools a looser consistency? Does corn make your asthma worse? Your body is talking. Listen. And give it a break.
Beyond food and drink, avoiding tobacco, environmental toxicants, and stressful people/situations can all help minimize the dirt buildup, making it easier for the liver, gut, and nervous system to catch up on their backlog of work.
Love your liver
The liver is the detox workhorse, breaking down and packaging up the various toxins associated with medications, alcohol, unhealthy foods, and environmental exposures for export out of the body.
In addition to avoiding alcohol and harmful foods, loving the liver also means minimizing exposure to unnecessary medications, abstaining from recreational drugs, and avoiding air pollution – which not only includes car exhaust and industry byproducts, but also chemical-laden room sprays, synthetic perfumes, and many commercial cleaning products.
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is perhaps the best-known botanical for liver health, and can easily be incorporated into a detox regimen. Milk thistle’s constituents silymarin and silibinin have been shown in animal studies to reduce liver injury caused by such liver-toxic substances as alcohol, acetaminophen, and radiation.[1] Silymarin has also been shown to increase levels of the powerful antioxidant glutathione in both the liver and intestines, thereby protecting the cells of the body.[2],[3]
Fuel up on detox-focused nutrition
Almost every biochemical reaction required for detoxification in the body requires one or more of the B vitamins.[4],[5] A methylated B complex supplement can therefore be helpful in supporting cleansing. Nutritional yeast is also a great way to get in more B vitamins through the diet, particularly for vegetarians and vegans.
Almost every biochemical reaction required for detoxification requires one or more of the B vitamins.
Magnesium is another important detox nutrient, as it’s required for the proper functioning of P450, the main detox pathway in the liver.[6] In addition to supplements, magnesium can be found in seaweeds (especially kelp) and various nuts (especially almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts).[7]
Antioxidants are also important. Antioxidant foods and supplements help mitigate the effects of free radicals and the oxidative stress they cause. Whether oxidative stress is caused by a poor diet, unhealthy lifestyle choices, high-stress levels, or sleep deprivation, it can be quenched with antioxidant go-getters like alpha-lipoic acid (ALA), green tea extract, grape seed extract, and reduced L-glutathione.
Excellent food-based sources of antioxidants include green tea, acerola cherry juice (which contains 13 times more vitamin C than orange juice and twice as much vitamin A as other berries!)[8],[9] and chlorophyll-rich foods like wheatgrass and chlorella.[10],[11] Wheatgrass is not only gluten-free when properly harvested and processed, but is also rich vitamins A, C, and E, as well as iron, magnesium, and calcium.[12],[13] Chlorella, another detox superhero, is rich in protein, RNA, DNA, and carotenoids, which help it ease inflammation[14] and boost the body’s ability to ward off infections.[15] It also acts as a gentle chelator, and helps the body detoxify from heavy metals while simultaneously acting to protect it with its antioxidant-promoting properties.[16],[17]
Anti-inflammatory agents – like quercetin, methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) – can also alleviate not only body aches and pains, but also the brain fog and neurological ailments often felt after an indulgent season. That said, individuals with sulfite sensitivity will want to avoid both MSM and NAC which both contain sulfur, and will benefit instead from molybdenum, which supports sulfite metabolism.[18] Probiotics have also been shown to mitigate the inflammatory response by way of supporting gut health, often improving problems with “leaky gut.”[19]
Pack it up, pack it out
The most obvious way in which our bodies “take out the trash” is through the bowels. However, a substantial portion of the population struggles with constipation, having less than three bowel movements weekly and difficulty eliminating when they do have a stool.
A good goal for most people is to aim for at least one substantial bowel movement per day while cleansing. Bowel movements should feel complete (meaning it doesn’t feel like there’s more in there afterwards). Although it can be tempting to use laxatives during a detox, these can cause dehydration, and over time can potentially become habit-forming.
A safer bet is to consume adequate fiber while cleaning, to keep well hydrated, and to engage in regular exercise or movement. Water not only helps flush toxins through the kidneys and urinary system, but also combats constipation[20] – after all, the stool is mostly comprised of water!
Modified citrus pectin can also be quite helpful in supporting healthy detoxification through the digestive system. In addition to bulking up the stools, citrus pectin has shown a particularly strong affinity for binding to toxic agents within the gut, thereby effectively eliminating them from the body.[21] Unlike other detox agents, which bind to harmful toxins and the essential minerals we need for optimal health, modified citrus pectin has been shown in clinical trials to leave the “good guys” (essential nutrients) in the body and push the “bad guys” (lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic) out[22] in both adults and children.[23]
Modified citrus pectin has been shown in clinical trials to leave the “good guys” (essential nutrients) in the body and push the “bad guys” (lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic) out.
Other ways to “take out the trash” include sitting in a sauna, dry skin brushing, and (gently) exercising. These are all wonderful adjuvants to a detox program, supporting the natural eliminatory mechanisms of the skin, circulatory system, and lymph.[24],[25],[26]
The body already knows how to detoxify, but by reducing the amount of “trash” we give it and by helping bring more bags to the curb, we can not only clean up the way we look after an indulgent season – but also the way we feel.
Click here to see References
[1] Abenavoli L, et al. Milk thistle in liver diseases: past, present, future. Phytother Res. 2010 Oct;24(10):1423-32. [2] Valenzuela A, et al. Selectivity of silymarin on the increase of the GSH content in different tissues of the rat. Planta Med. 1989 Oct;55(5):420-2. [3] Rui YC. Advances in pharmacological studies of silymarin. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 1991;86 Suppl 2:79-85. [4] Zhang Y. Decreased brain levels of vitamin B12 in aging, autism and schizophrenia. PLoS One. 2016 Jan 22;11(1):e0146797. [5] James SJ, et al. Efficacy of methylcobalamin and folinic acid treatment on glutathione redox status in children with autism. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jan;89(1):425-30. [6] Mansmann H. Consider magnesium homeostasis: III: cytochrome P450 enzymes and drug toxicity. Ped Asth Aller & Immunol. 1994;8(1). [7] Marz R. Magnesium. In: Medical Nutrition from Marz. 2nd ed. Portland, Oregon: Omni-Press; 2002. [8] United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Basic Report: 09001, Acerola, (west indian cherry), raw [Internet]. Washington, DC: Agricultural Research Service; 2018 [cited 24 July 2018]. Available from: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/301023. [9] Vendramini A. Chemical composition of acerola fruit (Malpighia punicifolia L.) at three stages of maturity. Food Chemistry. 2000;71(2):195-8. [10] Subramoniam A, et al. Chlorophyll revisited: anti-inflammatory activities of chlorophyll a and inhibition of expression of TNF-α gene by the same. Inflammation. 2012 Jun;35(3):959-66. [11] Sethi J, et al. Antioxidant effect of Triticum aestivium (wheat grass) in high-fat diet-induced oxidative stress in rabbits. Methods Find Exp Clin Pharmacol. 2010 May;32(4):233-5. [12] Wangcharoen W, Phimphilai S. Chlorophyll and total phenolic contents, antioxidant activities and consumer acceptance test of processed grass drinks. J Food Sci Technol. 2016 Dec;53(12):4135-40. [13] Bar-Sela G, et al. The medical use of wheatgrass: review of the gap between basic and clinical applications. Mini Rev Med Chem. 2015;15(12):1002-10. [14] Sibi G, Rabina S. Inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines by chlorella vulgaris extracts. Pharmacognosy Res. 2016 Apr-Jun;8(2):118-22. [15] Kwak JH, et al. Beneficial immunostimulatory effect of short-term Chlorella supplementation: enhancement of natural killer cell activity and early inflammatory response (randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial). Nutr J. 2012 Jul 31;11:53. [16] Kaplan D, et al. Chelating Properties of Extracellular Polysaccharides from Chlorella spp. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1987 Dec;53(12):2953-6. [17] Yun H, et al. Protective effect of Chlorella vulgaris against lead-induced oxidative stress in rat brains. J Health Sci. 2011;57(3):245-54. [18] Bold J. Considerations for the diagnosis and management of sulphite sensitivity. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2012 Winter;5(1):3-6. [19] Lloyd-Price J, et al. The healthy human microbiome. Genome Med. 2016 Apr 27;8(1):51. [20] Mounsey A, et al. Management of constipation in older adults. Am Fam Physician. 2015 Sep 15;92(6):500-4. [21] Eliaz I, et al. Integrative medicine and the role of modified citrus pectin/alginates in heavy metal chelation and detoxification–five case reports. Forsch Komplementmed. 2007 Dec;14(6):358-64. [22] Eliaz I, et al. The effect of modified citrus pectin on urinary excretion of toxic elements. Phytother Res. 2006 Oct;20(10):859-64. [23] Zhao ZY, et al. The role of modified citrus pectin as an effective chelator of lead in children hospitalized with toxic lead levels. Altern Ther Health Med. 2008;14(4):34-8. [24] Crinnion W. Components of practical clinical detox programs–sauna as a therapeutic tool. Altern Ther Health Med. 2007 Mar-Apr;13(2):S154-6. [25] Hoffmann KF. [Skin massage, skin brushing (dry type), a means to maintain health]. Dtsch Zahnarztl Z. 1952 Aug 1;7(15):880-1. [26] Sears ME, et al. Arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury in sweat: a systematic review. J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:184745.
The information provided is for educational purposes only. Consult your physician or healthcare provider if you have specific questions before instituting any changes in your daily lifestyle including changes in diet, exercise, and supplement use.
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Dr. Erica Zelfand
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