What's Your Poison?

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Illustration by Ali Bachmann

Toxic chemicals

Ever wonder if you’re toxic?

Doing a “detox” or a “cleanse” has become one of those buzz phrases that either causes one’s eyes to roll or to say—yes I need one of those! Indeed, I use to fall into the former category, but now fall firmly into the latter—depending on what is meant by a “cleanse.” I am convinced that environmental toxicity is one of the biggest contributors to the rise in chronic illnesses—cancer, dementia, autoimmunity, obesity, diabetes, asthma, allergies and more.  

We doctors don’t really learn about chronic toxic burden in medical school and so the notion of detoxification is largely ignored or even balked at. Of course, we do mostly understand acute toxin injury when it causes sudden and definitive symptoms (think poison control). However, most toxicant exposures are chronic, involve a multitude of substances, and happen after years, even decades of accumulation. 

Systems Overwhelmed

Think of it this way. Our bodies are designed to manage exposures to harmful materials—up to a point. It is like we have a big detox funnel where we collect all kinds of “stuff” which then needs to pass through the narrow pipe at the bottom to be eliminated. The outlet represents our metabolic detox pathways (liver does the heavy lifting here). If over time we are exposed to too much, the funnel cup overflows, and the funnel outlet gets clogged. The system becomes overwhelmed, and we are in trouble. We might suffer from nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, sinus congestion, headaches and/or GI dysfunction to name a few. Or we might not notice anything until we can’t remember stuff, or we are diagnosed with cancer.

Our environment is far more toxic than most of us realize, in part because we are so used to our way of life. We are numb to it. A recent study by the Stockholm Environment Institute estimated that there are about 350,000 chemicals in use, only a small fraction of which have been fully assessed for safety. We come into contact with toxic substances constantly—they are in our cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics, body care products, mattresses, carpets, building materials … and the list goes on. 

Forever Chemicals

Many of the toxicants we encounter are considered endocrine disruptors that mess with our hormones. Other toxicants are “obesogens” sometimes accounting for weight loss resistance. Heavy metals (including mercury, cadmium and lead) are often neurotoxic (got any silver fillings?). And of course, many are carcinogenic (cause cancer). The “forever chemicals,” PFAS that don’t breakdown, are used in nonstick cookware, clothes, carpets and more.  We all have them in us. Micro-plastics are ubiquitous, and we all have some of that in us too.  A friend once asked me relative to pesticide use in conventional agriculture “Is it too much to ask to stop putting poison in my food?” And there is so much more, but you start to see the toxic soup we live in.  Gets scary, right? 

Now that I have hopefully convinced you that this is a real problem, what can you do? First and foremost try to keep stuff from getting in. This is no small task as you must consider what goes into your mouth, on your body and into your lungs. You can’t control it all, but you can control a lot. A great source for becoming informed is the Environmental Working Group (EWG). For example, think your tap water is totally safe? Look it up at this link: ewg.org/tapwater (nint: it probably isn’t). Depressing, huh? Take heart, I will present more detox solutions in my next column, “What’s Your Poison? Environmental Health Part 2.”