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Posts tagged ‘toxicity’

Mad as a Hatter: Does It Matter?

Alice in Wonderland iPhone wallpaper

If you think I’m talking about the character in Alice in Wonderland, think again. In today’s blog, I’m going to discuss how toxins, particularly heavy metals (like mercury) could affect everything, including our mental health. The phrase “mad as a hatter” was coined in the early 19th century when “hatters” or people who were making hats started experiencing uncontrollable trembling and appeared insane. Apparently, the hatters were using glue that contained mercury at the time. Mercury toxicity can manifest as loss of appetite, fatigue, depression, emotional instability, peripheral numbness, tremors, poor memory and cognitive function, decreased senses of touch, taste, hearing and vision, and neuromuscular disorders. High levels have also been implicated in acute myocardial infarction. All the symptoms just mentioned  are quite common. Therefore, it’s always a great idea to rule out the presence of (heavy metal) toxins in anyone experiencing the said symptoms or anyone who has a possible exposure to mercury (and that means all of us). Mercury is now found all over the place, including our air (esp. surrounding coal-powered plants), food and water supply. In fact, common sources include fish (all fish now, compared to just large fish during previous years), dental amalgams, skin lightening agents (very common in Asia), some hemorrhoidal creams, some vaccines, medical instruments such as thermometers and sphygmomanometers, batteries, electrodes, some fertilizers, the paper industry and finally, the gold industry. In fact, there were recent reports in the news of mercury/lead toxicity in parts of Nigeria where people are involved in gold mining.

To test if someone has elevated levels of metals, particularly mercury, one can have a blood, hair or (provocative) urine testing done with chelating agents like DMSA or DMPS ( although others may use EDTA or other natural chelating agents). A blood specimen is usually used to determine acute exposure while hair and urinary testing informs us more of chronic exposure. Labs that perform the latter tests include Doctor’s Data and Genova Diagnostics. In Asia, I would imagine that Vitech Pro, a company based in Bangkok, is the one that performs these tests. Regular blood tests for mercury could be performed at any reputable lab like Quest or LabCorp. What do you do if your levels are elevated? Besides avoidance of possible sources (kinda difficult nowadays), the accepted form of treatment is a process called chelation therapy.  This has to be done properly however. Otherwise, further damage can be done. Natural oral chelating agents include vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, garlic, cilantro, onions, chlorella and some therapeutic-grade essential oils. EDTA is available in oral (least effective), suppository and injectable forms. Other chelating agents include penicillamine (for copper toxocity), deferoxamine (for iron poisoning), dimercaprol (for arsenic, mercury and lead), DMSA and DMPS. It is important to individualize treatment in any case. Factors such as kidney and liver function, nutritional deficiencies, allergies, and general patient constitution should all be taken into account when one embarks on a cleansing or detoxification program. For more information, please check out the American College for Advancement in Medicine web site, http://www.acam.org. and the American Academy of Environmental Medicine web site, http://www.aaemonline.org.

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Toxins Are Making You Fat…

Excess adipose tissue around a male's mid-section.

Image via Wikipedia

It’s that time of the year again when people make New Year’s resolutions (that they can hopefully stick with until the motivation goes south). Perhaps, the best thing to do is to plan ahead but take things a day at a time. If things don’t go your way or to put it another way, if you blow it, just forget about it and go back on your merry way. No use crying over spilt milk, as the old saying goes.

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. It’s not as easy as it used to be when simply cutting down caloric intake could do the trick. Nowadays, one has to consider the role that toxicity, stress, hormonal imbalance, inflammation, food sensitivities, and yes, even chronic pathogens, play in people’s health problems, including that of obesity.

Let’s first discuss the role of toxins in the obesity epidemic. Toxins are natural or man-made products that could wreak havoc on our physiology. With well-functioning organs of elimination, it’s not usually a problem. However, since we’re dealing with so many toxins in our food, air and water, it’s important that we assist these organs of detoxification and elimination in any way we can. Vitamins, minerals, herbs, essential oils, and homeopathic remedies are among the things we could use to facilitate that. Other activities that could help include exercise, fasting, massage, dry skin brushing, enemas/colon hydrotherapy, and Ayurverdic practices such as pranayama and abhyanga.

Toxins, if not metabolized and excreted, could accumulate and affect every system in the body. The once thought to be impenetrable blood-brain-barrier (protecting the brain) could actually be “infiltrated” by circulating toxins.

One popular theory behind the accumulation of fat in certain areas of the body is that these fat cells are actually trying to protect vital organs from these toxins. It’s a adaptive mechanism, if I may put it that way. Toxins are basically stored in fatty tissues. These toxins are subsequently released during a weight loss program. This explains why most people feel bad in an unsupervised, non-holistic weight management program. A holistic approach would consider adding a liver support protocol, among other things. It’s also wise to have someone’s baseline body composition measured prior to starting a program. Doing this initially and at regular intervals during the program guarantees that a person is losing fat and not muscle tissue.

Anyway, a natural result of detoxifying the body is fat loss. Therefore, anyone considering losing weight should begin with getting rid of junk internally (from their bodies) and from their environment (basic clean food, air and water).

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Waste in Your Waist

On overweight man's waistline.

Image via Wikipedia

You got that right! There’s a lot of waste in your waist. And I don’t mean the waste products in your colon, however.  What I’m referring to are the toxic products that are in the fatty areas of the body, primarily the core or abdominal area. Toxins have a propensity to accumulate in fatty tissues because they are lipophilic or “fat-loving”. Other fatty areas in the body include the breast area in women and the neurological system in both sexes. The toxins found in these areas are primarily environmental toxins such herbicides, pesticides, heavy metals, VOC’s, and other dangerous chemicals. During the process of weight loss (fat loss, specifically), the body begins burning fat, in the process releasing all these toxic chemicals into the circulation. With poor detoxification mechanisms, these chemicals are just recirculated and deposited into other parts of the body where they interfere with function. That’s the reason why some people feel worse when they lose weight. It’s really important to enhance the detoxification pathways before embarking on such a program. Speaking of detoxification, one of the major organs responsible for this process is our liver. There are 2 phases of detoxification that goes on here. To simplify things, phase 1 primarily involves making toxic products less toxic and phase 2 involves preparing the toxin for excretion by conjugating it with certain nutrients. Deficiency of nutrients could interfere with either phase and lead to waste build up in the body. In summary, if one intends to lose weight, wait and do some research and then run to your nearest holistic health provider.

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Is Aging a Disease?

This is the topic at a conference on aging held in London last week called “Turning Back The Clock.” The topic I think is more than a decade too late. The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine has been advocating anti-aging therapeutics for more than a decade now. I guess it’s better late than never, huh? Anyway, if you read the article further, the experts recommend taking a different approach to this biological process, one that recommends it as a condition that can be manipulated, treated and delayed. It further recommends the search for drugs that treat multiple illnesses at the same time. Sounds good, huh. Honestly though, this approach of just looking for drugs to “treat” aging won’t yield optimal results. We need to look at the basic issues that contribute to aging and address those. Factors such as nutritional deficiencies, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, chronic inflammation, toxicity and hormonal imbalances are among the basic things that need to be addressed. Treating the root causes of disease rather than just treating symptoms yield far better results. As far as what armaments to use in the “fight against aging”, we need to look at nutrition, nutraceuticals, natural hormones, gene therapy, homeopathy, detoxification treatments and other modalities along with pharmaceutical agents. A holistic approach to aging is the way to go.

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