Detoxification

Detoxification, per Wikipedia, is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Yep, the liver deserves a lot of credit, however other organs of detoxification – lymph, kidney, lungs, skin and the gut – also contribute to total body detoxification. Toxicants can be broadly categorized into two main groups, exogenous and endogenous. Exogenous toxicants are those things we pick up from the outside world. They are in personal care products, the air, our water, food, medicines… really everywhere! Click here to see a US airborne mercury chart that the EPA has since removed from it’s website. Endogenous toxicants are produced inside our bodies as a result of many metabolic processes like digestion, aging, exercise, breathing…. Yes, there is basically metabolic waste produced in all body systems all day long as a byproduct of, well, being alive.

Functional Medicine describes a condition known as total toxic load. The big question here is, are you eliminating as many toxicants as you are acquiring and manufacturing? We see this detoxification imbalance in our marine life where predatory fish like tuna, sea bass, grouper, etc. very often test high for mercury contamination! Why? Bioaccumulation – they feed on the smaller fish that may also have mercury (usually from eating algae) and their system (the predatory fishes) cannot remove it as fast as they ingest it. Fish, simply stated, were not designed to be good at eliminating heavy metals – metals are not supposed to be prevalent in our oceans and/or lakes. The top of the marine life food chain gets hit the hardest. Guess who else is at the top of a food chain?

Overall the human body is excellent at cleaning itself, however, with an exploding number of chemicals being introduced into the world environment and food supply (something nature did not plan for), the body can become overwhelmed. Elevating amounts of any toxicant can disrupt our normal biochemical processes that keep us energetic, slim, uninflamed, balanced and healthy as a whole. Nutrition as well as genetics play a critical role in adequate human detoxification. This pdf, as one example, shows a wide variety of nutrients that are critical in helping the liver function optimally. Click Here

PPH can approach detoxification in a few ways. We can measure your bodies adequacy of the nutrients and amino acids including glutathione that aid the liver in detoxification and cellular protection from free radical damage. We can look at some of your genes that aid in detoxification like the methylation, glutathione, and transsulfuration genes. We can teach you about correct fasting and detox diet plans. We can take you through an annual or semi-annual (7-14day) medical detox program. Lastly we can run a lab that examines four of the most toxic heavy metals – Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, and Arsenic – to assess your body burden of these particular substances.