What Are Toxins

What Are Toxins -Where Do They Come From and What Do They Do?

Dr Rachel Hall Dentist of Evolve Dental Kenmore discusses the impact of toxins on our bodies and our wellbeing.

What Are Toxins?

A toxin is anything that is harmful or detrimental to the body.

Toxins can be internal – created by the biological processes of the body or external – something that is introduced to the body, ingested, absorbed or inhaled.

Toxins and The Immune System

The immune system, gastrointestinal (GI) system and skin are designed to protect you from toxins.

However, you are exposed to toxic substances daily via what you apply to your skin, what you breathe and what you ingest.

Within your lifetime, you will consume up to 50 tonnes of food. Your GI system is responsible for breaking down these foods, digesting and absorbing those components which are useful and eliminating the rest.

The liver works to remove toxins from the food you eat as well as toxins produced by your body. When the GI tract is not functioning well the liver has to do more work as an additional burden is placed upon the liver.

What are Toxins, and Where Do They Come From?

A toxin is defined as any substance that causes harmful effects to your body.

The immune system, liver and kidneys work together to remove toxins at the same rate as they are encountered.

When toxin levels exceed your body’s capacity to remove them, they build up and are stored until they can be removed.

You can have toxins stored in your body for years without experiencing any negative symptoms. It is only when the toxin levels become too high that you start to feel ill.

Toxins come from environmental sources, lifestyle habits, internal toxins created by the body and even your emotions.

Environmental Toxins

These toxins come from industry, car exhausts, air and water pollution, pesticides, herbicides and radiation. They also are found in your hair care products, soaps, make-up, perfumes and cleaning products. In the past 100 years around 75,000 new chemicals have been released into the environment. Chemicals that your body was never designed to cope with.

Lifestyle Toxins

Modern lifestyle habits mean many people introduce significant toxins into their bodies. Prescription drugs, consumption of sugar and highly processed foods, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs increase the toxic load of the body.

Processed foods contain artificial food additives, colours, flavours and preservatives.

Meat often contains hormones and antibiotics, which can cause hormonal disruption.

Caffeine and other stimulants, sedatives, alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, all have to filter out of the body through the liver and kidneys.

And on top of that people are not getting the proper amount of sleep and exercise needed to stay healthy.

Sleep and exercise play a critical role in relieving stress and eliminating harmful toxins.

Internal Toxins

There are different types of toxins that are produced within our body. Three main categories of toxins are created.

1. Metabolic reactions: Countless metabolic reactions occur in the body at every moment. They break down proteins, fats and sugars into energy during digestion and metabolism. Each reaction creates toxic waste products (like carbon dioxide and ammonia) that have to be eliminated.Hormones such as oestrogen and androgen, get broken down and excreted in the liver after they are used. If the hormones are not properly taken care of by the liver, then hormonal imbalances and symptoms occur. Toxic build-up can occur when elimination mechanisms are inadequate due to poor nutrient intake or malabsorption of key detoxification nutrients.

   In most cases, there is excess toxin formation and poor toxin elimination which equals toxic build-up.

2. Intestinal microbes: The intestinal tract is full of bacteria and yeast. These make up your gut flora and are normally beneficial as they aid digestion, production of vitamins and play an important role in the body’s immune response. When things go out of balance there is an overgrowth of certain bacteria or yeasts which can be harmful to our health. These harmful gut florae absorb nutrients meant for your body and produce waste that enters the bloodstream.Long-term production of these toxins leads to inflammation, a weakened immune system and a slower metabolic rate.

   It takes about 12-20 hours for the food we eat to be digested and eliminated from the body, but when you have digestive problems undigested food can remain in the large intestine for a prolonged period of time causing harmful bacteria and yeast to grow. This build-up produces high levels of toxic compounds that are absorbed into the body’s bloodstream which need to be detoxified and eliminated from the body.

3. Emotional toxins: Research has shown that there is a connection between your emotions and well-being. When experiencing a traumatic or stressful event, it is common to react with anger, fear, grief, resentment etc. Repeated cycles of emotional stresses have a direct effect on the nervous and hormonal systems, which can indirectly affect our body’s ability to detoxify.Not dealing with your issues, and the emotions that get triggered by them does not make the issue go away and only adds to the damaging effects on the body.

What Do Toxins Do to the Body?

When toxins build up the ability for your body to remove them quickly enough is impaired, the body’s self-regulation systems go out of balance, digestion becomes impaired and the liver and immune system become overwhelmed and can not keep up.

The function of the large intestine slows down which in turn leads to congestion in the lymphatic system, designed to drain waste products from blood and tissues, thus forcing waste to re-circulate within the body.

When the liver is clogged, it allows toxins to go into the body, instead of filtering them out. Toxins then get into the bloodstream and cause inflammation in other parts of the body. As a result, the body resorts to using the skin to purge the waste. Acne, rashes, eczema are signs the body is trying to rid itself of toxins.

Toxins are also stored in body fat, causing weight gain and preventing the body to fully detoxify itself.

Toxins cause inflammation, build up of free radicals and acidity in your body which prematurely age the body and accelerate or trigger illness and disease.

Toxins and The Dentist

At Evolve Dental Healing we understand the impact of toxins on your body and that is why we do not use dental mercury amalgam fillings, fluoride or materials that have toxic compounds like BPA plastics for example.

This is why we follow stringent protocols to ensure we remove mercury fillings as safely as possible to minimise your exposure to mercury vapour.

We are here to help our patients live a longer and healthier life by addressing inflammation, disease, nutrition, toxins and lifestyle. Call us to find out more 07 3720 1811.