How Our Bodies Detox

The word "detox" has become a buzz word in the area of nutrition and health, but the truth of the matter is whether you are on a “detox program” or not, your body is detoxing itself every second of everyday. 

Detoxification is simply the body eliminating and expelling toxins after neutralizing them. When it comes to detoxification of the body, it is important to remember that no matter what type of diet you go on or what supplement you take, the body is actually responsible for executing the detox. Can different programs or supplements help? Absolutely. I am always in favor of aiding the body by giving it what it needs to function properly, and after reading this you will have a better grasp of how your body detoxifies and what happens when you engage in a detox program.

So what are these toxins, and where do they come from? To put it simply, a toxin is a poison. It can come from outside the body or be produced by different mechanisms within the body. Toxins can have detrimental effects on the body causing things like migraines, autoimmune diseases, brain-fog, organ dysfunction, and cancer. If you are reading information about toxicity, you might run into some of these words:

Xenobiotic is any substance or particle inside the body that should not be there.

Exogenous means that it came from outside the body. Some examples of exogenous toxins are pesticides, exhaust fumes, food coloring, artificial sweeteners, and medications.

Endogenous means that it was made inside the body. Some examples of endogenous toxins are hormones, metabolic byproducts, and compounds released by bacteria.

In the body, the liver is king of detoxification, but the detoxification processes also occur in the lungs, intestines, kidneys, and skin. The intestines are the second most important place of detoxification. It makes sense, considering most toxins from the environment are consumed and absorbed through the digestive tract and the first place blood goes after it leaves the intestines is the liver.

When it comes to detoxification in the body, there are three pathways, or avenues. They are quite conveniently named Phase I (PH1), Phase II (PH2), and Phase III (PH3); with PH1 and PH2 being the primary means of neutralizing and removing toxins/xenobiotics from the body.

So how does it all work? Well as stated before, toxins can come from food we eat or from byproducts of internal mechanisms of the body. For right now, let's imagine that a certain toxin just entered your body from something you chewed up and swallowed. After the toxin leaves your stomach, it enters into your small intestines and is absorbed into the blood stream and is then carried to the liver via the hepatic portal vein. Once in the liver, the toxins in the blood are absorbed into liver cells and PH1 and PH2 begin to turn the toxin into something less poisonous. Now, not all toxins go through both PH1 and PH2. Some toxins bypass PH1 and go directly to PH2, but for the most part, if a toxin goes through PH1, it will also go through PH2.

Phase 1 detoxification uses a family of enzymes called Cytochrome P450 and there are about 20-30 of these. Essentially, PH1 “burns” the toxin and is the primary pathway used for activating prescription drugs. Because PH1 is used to activate drugs, quite a bit of effort has gone into understanding how it works. As a result of PH1, the toxin is more water soluble, which means it is able to be diluted with water easier. But just because the toxin went through PH1 doesn't necessarily mean that it is safe yet. The result of PH1 may neutralize the toxin, but it might also not change its toxicity at all, or even make it more toxic. In addition, PH1 creates free radicals that can damage cells and DNA, but ultimately it is just prepping the toxins for PH2. Some notable substances that go through PH1 are caffeine, acetaminophen (Tylenol), Ibuprofen, and alcohol.

Side not: If caffeine really affects you, it is a sign that you are a slow detoxer.

After the toxin has gone through PH1, it is now ready to go through PH2, and remember some substances go directly into PH2. Phase 2 uses a process called conjugation to make the toxin even more water soluble and less toxic. After the toxin has gone through PH2, it is now able to be mixed with water and so that it can be removed from the body via urine or stool.

Phase III definitely plays a role in detox, but seems to work somewhat independently from PH1 and PH2. It is more of a cellular pump system that pumps toxins, metabolites, and byproducts out of cells, and when people talk about the body detoxing they generally are referring to PH1 and PH2.

Without going really in depth into all the different pathways within each phase, it is actually a pretty simple system.

Balance between PH1 and PH2 is vitally important, and this is where stuff gets kind of messy. Imagine the liver as a movie theater where PH1 is the window where you buy your tickets and PH2 is the usher that takes your ticket outside the door. Ideally, a person should walk up to the window, buy a ticket, walk through the lobby to the theater that is playing the movie they wish to see, hand their ticket to the usher, and go inside with no wait.

As we know, it is never ideal. If the ticket window is slow, there can be a large line of people build up outside the window just like if there are too many toxins that enter the body all at once or if the liver is not functioning properly. If there are not enough PH1 sites for the toxins to go through, then toxins will build up in the body. When this happens, the toxins can leave the liver and end up in different tissues and cause major health problems. Most toxins are naturally fat soluble, which means they will seek out fat tissue and fatty organs (such as the brain and endocrine organs) and they can remain in these cells, tissues, and organs for years. So if PH1 is slow or there are too many toxins for the body to handle, a bottleneck forms and the body essentially becomes toxic.

Here's another scenario: What happens if there are 100 ticket windows open, but a bus shows up of people who already have their tickets, and there is only one usher tearing tickets? Well, then a line of people builds up waiting for the usher. This is what happens when either PH2 is too slow to keep up with PH1, or if PH1 has become hyperactive. So now there are toxins that have already gone through PH1 and toxins that are trying to go directly to PH2 building up in your system. If you remember, after PH1, some toxins are still toxic and some are even more toxic than before, so you can imagine what happens if they have no place to go to become neutralized. They end up circulating throughout the body, embedding themselves in different cells and tissues, and causing damage that can lead to major health problems.

So how do detox programs or supplements work? Basically most are designed to boost the liver function and greatly reduce the amount of toxin exposure over a period of time, allowing the body to rid itself of the stored toxins that had nowhere to go when your PH1 and/or PH2 pathways were overloaded.

Remember, your body is designed to eliminate toxins, but it can be difficult if you are constantly bombarding it with more toxins than it can handle. Instead of trying crazy detox programs, then reverting back to the same behavior, why not eliminate the cause of the toxicity by making a lifestyle change? Try avoiding artificial sweeteners, caffeine, alcohol, food dyes, and food preservatives. Also, some rapid detox programs could actually be somewhat harmful because too many toxins may be released and start to circulate around your body. Other than avoiding harmful chemicals, try eating sulfur-rich foods like eggs, cruciferous vegetables, raw garlic, and onions. Also, Milk Thistle is a very good supplement that can help the liver boost its detoxifying power.

As always, it is always best to isolate the cause and provide a means of correction, and in the case of detox, eliminating toxins from your food and environment go a long way towards allowing your body to detox properly and be healthy.