Toxin Exposure Reduction

Abstract

With evidence growing for the huge contribution of environmental toxins to chronic disease, the need to help our patients decrease their toxic load has never been more urgent. Some of these toxins—such as DDT, PCBs, and cadmium—have half-lives ranging over a decade. Since so many are extremely difficult to breakdown or excrete, avoidance is critical. This editorial presents multiple strategies to decrease toxin exposure from air, food, and water.

Introduction

I have now written many editorials—with more to come—on how toxins have become a major cause of chronic disease.

In my editorials, I am simplifying a bit by using only the term toxin. Toxicologists use more refined terminology:

Toxins: Proteins produced by living organisms that typically create immediate effects.

Toxicants: Molecules not produced by living organisms that damage physiological processes.

Poisons: Toxicants that cause immediate serious effects at relatively small amounts.

So technically almost all my editorials have been about toxicants, but the term toxins is the most widely used and I will stick with it.

These toxins come to us in air, food, water, health and beauty aids, our gut, and, let’s be honest, we intentionally consume many toxins such as alcohol, marijuana, and over-the-counter (OTC) and prescribed pharmaceuticals. As noted in a previous editorial, for practicality I have broken these into 3 classes: exogenous toxins (metals and chemicals from the environment), endogenous toxins (gut-derived, improperly detoxified hormones and intermediate metabolites, etc), and toxins of choice (alcohol, marijuana, excessive salt, etc). While there are many effective ways to increase breakdown or excretion of toxins, the first step always must be to stop the toxins entering our patients’ bodies. This is very challenging in our industrialized world. Following are my current thoughts on ways to decrease toxin exposure. The long half-lives of many of these toxins, as listed in Table 1, shows how extremely difficult they are to eliminate, emphasizing the importance of keeping them out.

Table 1.

Toxin Half-Lives in Blood and Tissue¹

Toxin	Half-Life
Arsenic	2 to 4 days
Benzene	0.5 to 1.0 days
Cadmium	16 years
Chlordane	3 to 4 days
DDT/DDE	2 to 10 years!
Dieldrin	2 to 12 months
Ethanol	15%/hour
Lead	1 to 1.5 months (2+ years bone)
Mercury	2 months (CDC)
PCBs	3 to 25 years!
Toluene	0.5 to 3 days

Abbreviations: DDT, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane; DDE, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene; CDC, Centers for Disease Control; PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls.

Air

When writing Clinical Environmental Medicine (CEM) with Walter Crinnion, ND, I must admit to being stunned by the huge amount of research showing indoor air pollution, particularly particulate matter, to be a major and common problem. This is even worse for those living in cities or near (if you consider 100 feet near) highways. Indoor air pollution is ranked as the eighth major Global Burden of Disease Risk, while ambient particulate matter (especially PM_2.5) is listed as the sixth cause.² As luck would have it, the heating system in our home died while I was working on CEM. We decided to install as good an air filter as financially practical. It includes a MERV 16 passive filter and an electronic precipitator. The system is supposed to be good for 1 year, but after 9 months I decided to check it out. Figure 1 shows what I found. Before you discount as due to a dirty house, we have white carpets that are still white after 22 years—we keep a meticulously clean home. The air, even in a city like Seattle with so much rain, has a lot of toxins. Suggestions for reducing toxins from air are listed in Table 2.

Figure 1.

MERV 16 Air filter after 9 months in Seattle

Table 2.

Strategies for Decreasing Indoor Air Pollution

Install a MERV 8 or higher filter if a forced air system If central air filtration not possible, install HEPA air filters in every room frequently used, especially the bedroom Change the filters on heating and cooling system regularly Avoid ozone machines and wood fireplaces Remove shoes before entering house No smoking in house Search for and eliminate any mold damage in building Use fragrance-free natural household cleansers low in solvents Clean, dust, and vacuum regularly. Don’t spray stain-resistant or fire-retardant chemicals on furniture or clothing Wear natural fibers. Use nontoxic paints

Food

As near as I can tell, food contaminants are the biggest source of toxins for most people. Most foods are contaminated during their growing, processing, and storage. These contaminants include such toxins as cadmium in foods grown with high-phosphate fertilizers (especially a problem for soy), herbicides such as glyphosate to control weeds (especially high in GMO foods), pesticides to control insects, chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) leaching into the foods from packaging, and intentionally added chemicals such as preservatives, coloring agents, and taste enhancers. Table 3 lists some strategies for decreasing toxin exposure from food.

Table 3.

Strategies for Decreasing Food-born Toxins

Eat primarily organically grown food. If organic is not possible, then choose foods according to the Environmental Working Group’s Clean15 and DirtyDozen guidelines. Join a food cooperative or subscribe to a CSA (community supported agriculture). Grow some of your own food. Avoid processed foods. Avoid foods with additives and synthetic preservatives. If eating prepared foods, avoid those packaged in plastic or cans lined with plastic. Eliminate all plastic storage in the home. Avoid aluminum and Teflon cooking equipment. Use stainless steel and ceramic cookware instead. Limit barbequed, grilled, or charbroiled foods

Water

Water contamination is surprisingly common, with some of the toxins very difficult to remove. Water contains microorganisms, disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, metals, meta-metals, radionuclides, etc. Even at existing inadequate standards, around one quarter of Americans are exposed to toxicant levels in water that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. The toxin burden in the water supply is often further increased once it comes into the building as lead-containing pipes corrode, brass and chrome-plated faucets leak lead and other metals, and copper pipes used to be connected with lead-containing solder. Over 2000 water systems affecting 4 to 6 million people in the United States are exposed to levels of lead in the water known to be toxic.³ But lead is only one of the many metals/meta-metals polluting the water supply. Arsenic levels exceed “safe” levels in over 10% of public water supplies, but only 50% have even been tested. Even worse, hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen, is found in more than 75% of public water supplies.⁴ Avoiding water-borne toxins is challenging as some are hard or expensive to remove. Table 4 lists some strategies.

Table 4.

Strategies for Decreasing Water-Born Toxins

Install a carbon block filter into the main waterline coming into the house. A better option is to also install an electronic system for precipitating metals in the waterline. If arsenic is in the water supply, a more expensive reverse-osmosis system will be needed. If whole-house filters are not possible, install carbon block filters in the kitchen and every shower

Summary

Many more areas could be covered here, such as toxins of choice, house and yard chemicals, health and beauty aids, toxic gut bacteria, OTC and prescription drugs, etc. In fact, I devote a full chapter on the topic of toxin avoidance in The Toxin Solution and several chapters in CEM are devoted to each source of toxins. Our patients are expecting us to not only help them recover from current diseases but to promote their health and decrease risk of future disease. This is not possible without actively helping them decrease their toxin exposure.

Readers are welcome to send in their favorite toxin avoidance solutions.

In This Issue

Associate editor, Jeff Bland, PhD, starts the issue with an important discussion of how to practice personalized cardiology. While population-based, generic interventions have had some limited success, ultimately the leading cause of death will be effectively addressed only when each person is given the guidance they personally need in a way that engages them to make the needed lifestyle changes.

John Weeks brings us exciting news about the establishment of the Integrative Health and Wellness Congressional Caucus. Once again, like the CAM Caucus, it is bipartisan and reaches across diverse ideologies. Commendations to congressmen, Jared Polis, D-Colorado, and Mike Coffman, R-Colorado, for their vision and courage. Special appreciation to Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC) chair, Len Wisneski, MD, and acting director, Susan Haeger, whose leadership made this happen. I think critically important to realize that our medicine transcends political boundaries. To achieve the many needed structural changes in health care research, licensing, reimbursement, disciplinary boards, etc, we must realize that we need both sides of the aisle.

Frequent contributor Joel Kreisberg, DC, PCC, pairs with Reggie Marra, MA, PCC, to present us the importance of health and wellness coaches for the practice of integrative medicine. The creation of practice standards, educational programs, and national exams and certifications are all critical pieces of providing us these needed colleagues.

The value of health coaches is not just theoretical as demonstrated in the original research by Esmeralda Madrigal, MSW; Max Gray, BA; Molly A. Timmerman, DO; Tatiana Orozco, PhD; Diane Cowper Ripley, PhD; Maheen Adamson, PhD; and Odette A. Harris, MD, MPH. Although the sample size was not large enough to reach statistical significance for these patients with traumatic brain injury or polytrauma, the results tell us we are asking important questions and moving in the right direction.

I am very excited by the case reports from Elizabeth Cole, MS, DAOM, on the use of electrostimulation acupuncture to help safely induce postterm deliveries. Having provided natural childbirth for women who are very resistant to conventional medicine intervention, these results are very welcome.

Our second case report definitely pushes the boundaries of what we understand and accept. Those who have read my articles and books or heard me lecture know that I am totally committed to the biophysiological model. Nonetheless, I keep an open mind and am always interested in broadening my understanding—but it must be rigorous. Susan Peck, PhD; GNP-BC, APNP, FAAO, APT, CHTP/I; Gail Corse, BS, BA, CNA; and Der-Fa Lu, PhD, RN call our attention to energy-field changes approaching and during the death experience. Is this valid? I have no idea. Should we pay attention? Most definitely.

Managing editor, Craig Gustafson, interviewed Bruce Lipton, PhD, discussing what he has discovered about consciousness from cell culture research. I first learned about his work at a lecture he gave about 25 years ago. Simply fascinating. While not intended, this issue has brought together a number of articles on the border of biochemistry, energy, and consciousness. I think we have a lot to learn.

Associate editor, Bill Benda, MD, finishes the issue with his usual wit and insight. Having lost 4 close friends over the past year, I especially welcome his thoughts on aging. Happy birthday, my friend.

Biography