We are living in a toxic world that is assaulting our health.
If you look at the rates of disease over the last century, it will be no surprise that the world we live in is toxic. Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, degenerative diseases, and many more health issues are more common today than ever before. Modern life may be complex and the causes may be varied and nebulous, but there are some important things we can do to protect ourselves from these diseases and the toxins that cause them.
In our health blog, we often talk about ways to heal and bolster the body from within, but it's also important to attend to external factors that impact our health. Our environment has become increasingly toxic and is now a major cause of many dysfunctions and disorders. In the last century, we have created and synthesized tens of thousands of new chemicals, which are prevalent throughout our lives. Millions of tons of known carcinogens are being dumped into the environment every year and it's only getting worse as more humans are born. Just look at some of the extreme cases where we find disturbing mutations of local fauna in areas of high toxicity, or recently in California where residents were forced to move out of some suburbs due to toxic gases being released from pipelines into the air, or the concentrated pockets of cancer clusters, and the list goes on and on.
Toxins are everywhere!
According to a 2009 report from the president's cancer panel, we are not only losing the war on cancer, but "the true burden of environmentally induced cancer has been grossly underestimated ... exposure to potential environmental carcinogens is widespread."
When you add all the pesticides used in food growing, the emissions from all vehicles, various forms of radiation, compounds from manufacturing processes, and the numerous other sources of toxins, it is little wonder diseases are so prevalent. In 2009, the EPA released a report that showed the average human body contains hundreds of industrial chemicals, including PBDE's and BPA, which are well known to cause serious problems. Incredibly, 98% of the population in the US contains some amounts of teflon in their bodies, which is clearly linked to kidney disease, thyroid disease, colitis, and cancer.
Add to this the toxins that exist in nature that can also have deleterious effects, and we have quite a cocktail of invasive elements bent on breaking down our bodies. As an example, aflatoxins are a deadly toxin found naturally in the world (produced by molds) that cause mutations of DNA and carcinogens and are known to be a direct cause of certain cancers.
So what can we do to protect ourselves from these environmental toxins?
Obviously there are practical things one can do to minimize the exposure to toxins, but that is becoming increasingly difficult as we become ever more industrialized and technological, not to mention the sheer number of us, and the natural toxins as well. It is clear we need internal strategies for protecting against toxins. We need ways to bolster our health and make ourselves more resilient against environmental toxins.
When it comes to nutrition, one compound has shown to be highly effective in protecting against environmental toxins. There's a reason we have the saying "eat your greens." There is a compound found in green food called chlorophyll. Research consistently evinces the powerful effects of chlorophyll on cancers in particular, but on toxins in general.
Over the last decade, several studies on the use of chlorophyllin (the water-soluble derivative) resulted in significant improvements in patients with oral cancer (2012), bladder cancer (2014), pancreatic cancer (2014), stomach cancer (2014), breast cancer, and colon cancer (2009).
According to one study, chlorophyllin not only showed strong effects in stopping cancerous growth and metastasis, but concluded that "dietary chlorophyllin ... abrogates ... key hallmark events of cancer ... appears to be an ideal candidate for chemoprevention." (Tumour Biol; 2014.)
The mechanisms are still being understood, but the effects are clear. Chlorophyllin appears to bind to invading toxins and then remove them. It targets pathways and molecules that are involved in the cancer development and growth and interrupts them. For example, one gene, P53, controls cell proliferation and suppresses tumors. If mutations occur in this gene as a result of toxins, cancerous cells may reproduce wildly. Chlorophyllin binds to these toxins and forms new compounds that are no longer able to bind to normal cells, preventing malignant changes and DNA adducts.
One Chinese study found that chlorophyllin was responsible for a 55% reduction in a biochemical marker of aflatoxin as compared to the control group. The study concluded that "cholorophyllin or ... foods rich in chlorophylls may represent practical means of preventing the development of ... environmentally induced cancers."
Chlorophyllin protects against toxins and free radical damage.
Furthermore, chlorophyll is a potent scavenger of free radicals. We have talked at great length about the dangers of free radicals in the body and all the associated problems. In a 2000 study, researchers found that chlorophyllin had a potent protective effect on various organs and mitochondria. The report declared that "chlorophyllin is a highly effective antioxidant capable of protecting mitochondria against oxidative damage."
Protection from ionizing radiation.
A 2000 study published in the journal Toxicology found that chlorophyllin also offered considerable protection against ionizing radiation, which is a significant and burgeoning cause of free radicals. Moreover, because mitochondrial damage is involved in the aging process, chlorophyllin may be highly useful in preventing chronic and degenerative diseases (particularly those associated with age.)
In this world filled with environmental hazards, it is simply good practice to do what you can to limit the impact of negative external factors. Get plenty of green foods (fruits and vegetables) into your diet. Pick foods that are high in chlorophyll like tomatoes, garlic, broccoli, carrots, spinach, alfalfa, kale, spirulina, and apples (the highest content foods.) One major issue today is the depletion of top soil and the loss of nutrient value in farmed foods, so even if eating well, supplementing for chlorophyllin is important. Look for a supplement that contains high amounts of chlorophyllin to ensure optimal defense against environmental toxins.
The philosophy behind our GREEN 33 daily greens supplement was born out of a need to augment our diets with better nutrition that can be targeted to support key health functions. We recognized that by slowly air-drying green foods, we could capture critical nutrients and compounds like chlorophyllin. Although the formula is not standardized for extracted compounds (it is natural food in its natural form), tests show that each daily dose of GREEN 33 contains about 300mg of chlorophyllin, which according to research is an ideal amount to help fight off toxins.
Related Posts:
Choosing Whole Foods Means Choosing Health
The Importance of Being Alkaline - Know Your pH !
Why Spirulina is a Superfood
Why Kale is King When it Comes to Nutrition
For the Love of Food, What We Eat Can Heal
References:
- Chlorophyllin as a protector of mitochondrial membranes ...; Toxicology 2000, Nov 30.
- Chlorophyllin intervention reduces aflatoxin; DNA adducts in individuals at high risk for bladder cancer. Prod Nat Acad Sci. Dec 2000.
- Dietary cancer and prevention using antimutagens. Toxicology 2004, May 20.
- Chemopreventative potential of chlorophyllin. Nutr Cancer, 2015.
The opinions expressed in this article are of the author. Content and other information presented on the site are not meant to be medical advice or any substitute for professional advice, counseling, diagnosis, or treatment. Never delay or disregard professional medical or mental health advice from your physician or other qualified health provider.
