Last week we looked at the concept of detoxing and how, despite it being a modern buzzword, this concept has been carried out for hundreds of years.
Your usual diet could be hampering your body’s natural capacity to detox and to rid itself of toxic intruders. Sugars, processed foods (including cakes, biscuits and white breads), excessive alcohol, colas and sodas all affect the body’s detoxification pathways. A typical western diet of ‘bad’ carbohydrates packed full of sugars, is especially harmful.
The foods that can help kickstart the body’s detox processes include proteins from chicken, fish and eggs, as well as vegetables and fruits, beans and lentils, avocados, raw nuts and seeds and olive oil. Try gluten-free grains such as brown rice, millet and quinoa. In addition, drink 1.5 litres of water or herbal tea every day.
Sweating it out is another effective way to aid the detox process. Saunas can help reduce high blood pressure and improve blood flow and heart functioning
Supplementing with B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine and choline), along with vitamins C and E, magnesium and selenium, also helps.
Several clinical trials have shown that commercial detox products enhance liver detoxification processes while others have eliminated organic pollutants from the body. However, no randomised controlled trials have been carried out, say researchers in Sydney, Australia (J. Hum. Nutr. Diet, 2015).
So what works with detoxing? Here are a few suggestions to consider:
• Exercise – intense exercise seems to fast track the detox process. To assess how much exercise can boost detoxification, researchers gave 335 people measured doses of caffeine and traced its degradation in the body by monitoring levels of caffeine metabolites (breakdown products of caffeine in the body) in urine.
After 30 days of aerobic exercise, the rate of caffeine degradation had increased substantially in all participants (Adv. Exp. Med. Biol., 1991). In another study a single session of aerobic exercise, on a stationary bicycle, doubled levels of detoxification enzymes in 11 healthy volunteers.
Finally, a study of firemen who were exposed to PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) put them through a two- to three-week detox programme. This involved 30-60 minutes of exercise twice a week, together with dietary changes and daily saunas. They all showed an improvement by the end of the study period. This suggested that such a regime is definitely successful as part of a detox programme.
• Yoga – an Indian practice, known as Shankhaprakshalana (deep colon cleanse), which uses lukewarm salt water together with five yoga postures, is a proven way to cleanse the bowel. In one study of 54 people preparing for colonoscopy screening, those who practised Shankhaprakashalana had better colonoscopy results than those who used a standard colonic preparation. The Shankhaprakashalana involved drinking 480ml of lukewarm saline, made by adding 9g of sodium chloride to a litre of lukewarm water, while doing the yoga postures. The standard preparation include polyethylene glycol 3350, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride (J. Altern. Complement. Med., 2010).
• Heat – sweating it out is another effective way to aid the detox process. Saunas can help to reduce high blood pressure and improve blood flow and heart functioning in short, 15-minute sessions. Whereas toxic chemicals and heavy metals can only be safely shed during longer sauna sessions, say researchers (Altern. Ther. Health Med., 2007). Also don’t forget steam rooms, which have the same effect.
• Diet – the elimination diet is a good place to start. It removes all foods known to cause allergies or a toxic overload. Some I already mentioned include wheat, dairy, sugary and processed foods and refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, cakes and biscuits, coffee and teas that are not herbal, and alcohol. This regime should be followed for around four weeks to truly detox the body.
• Supplements – Sarah Myhill, an NHS doctor who was honorary secretary for the British Society for Allergy, Environmental and Nutritional Medicine for 17 years, recommends taking magnesium (400mg/day), zinc (25mg/day) and selenium (200mcg/day) to help the body’s natural detox processes. Glutathione (250mg/day) is another essential supplement.
She also recommends taking B12, B6 and phosphatidylserine. The duration will depend on the severity of the toxicity. However, she has found that the average duration is 16 weeks.
There are many products that claim to help detox in the shops. They include ways to clean the bowel, which include various fibres. There are liver-cleansing products based on milk thistle. Other products include green foods sold as powders to offer a whole body cleanse and others based on the various vitamins mentioned.
Finally, how do you know which toxins your body has been exposed to? They could be pesticides. Others include sodium nitrate, which is a preservative used in processing meats. Sodium/potassium aluminium sulphate is used in processing cheeses and baked goods. Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used to harden plastics, has now been banned from baby products and toys.
Artificial food colourants and dyes, linked to neurological disorders such as ADHD and dioxins, are pollutants found in fatty foods. There are many more. We just need to be aware of them when buying food and drinks.
Detoxing or detoxicology is still in its infancy as a therapy (despite the hundreds of years of use in other cultures), so most of the evidence in trials is anecdotal or derived from case studies.
However, Marc Cohen, a professor of complementary medicine at RMIT University of Victoria in Australia, says a lack of scientific evidence does not necessarily mean a lack of effect or effectiveness (Aust. Fam. Physican, 2007).
kathryn@maltanet.net