Sorry, but the answer is yes, you need to detox. In my functional nutrition practice, I create personalized detoxification programs with foods, herbs, and supplements based on functional medicine labs.
More than 80,000 chemicals are produced in the US. It is estimated that humans have an average of 153 toxic chemicals in our bodies. Pollution, stress, chronic/severe illness can cause inflammation which diverts our bodies’ resources away from detoxification. Glypohosate, the weed killer used on crops in the US, is prevalent in Americans’ bodies. One third of Americans have high levels of arsenic. Arsenic is toxic to pancreatic cells which can lead to diabetes. Organic pollutants abound in plastics, cosmetics and the environment and disrupt hormones. There are just a few examples.
Fortunately, plant medicines and nutrition have much to offer for detoxification.
Are detox kits helpful?
Likely not very much, especially the 1 or 2 week variety. The best approach is to perform individualized functional medicine lab testing and develop a personalized detox nutrient plan. When that isn’t possible, one can focus on a diet with the nutrient precursors for detoxification and if you want to go further, supplement with natural plant medicines that support the liver.
How do you know if you need a more personalized intervention with functional medicine and functional nutrition? If you have fatigue, chronic illness, brain fog, chronic inflammation, chronic digestive problems, headaches, body pain, mood swings, insomnia or have had a period of intense stress/trauma, or toxic exposure. In addition, there are many genetic variants that affect how well people detoxify, so even without the above issues, being proactive may be a good plan!
Detox plan hierarchy:
- Food based, gentle detox:
- Basic detox: foods plus one or two liver support supplements.
- Extended detox kit program for 4 weeks.
- Personalized detox plan based on lab testing.
Food and herbs for detox:
Sulfur containing foods: garlic, eggs, broccoli, eg, can help boost glutathione. Foods that contain can help with glycation, a conjugation pathway in the second phase of liver detoxification. Cysteine, glycine, glutamine amino acids are also needed for liver detoxification. Our bodies make glutathione from these three amino acids, a master detoxification and antioxidant molecule.Food sources of glutathione: (almonds, turmeric, avocado, whey, okra, green asparagus, broccoli).
Bitters can help with both phase 1 and phase 2 liver detoxification.
Specific herbs can target specific compounds, for example:
- Organophosphates: milk thistle, ginger (BPA)
- Heavy metals: hawthorn, chlorella, alpha lipoic acid (broccoli)
- glutathione
Aging means we are less effective in producing the detoxification enzymes of the first phase of liver detoxification. Stomach acid also declines which makes consuming bitters even more important as we age.
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