Did you think that heavy industries and coal mines are the places to have the harmful metals that have toxic effects on the body? Your body can accumulate these toxic metals from the environment.
The heavy metals are the elements found in the earth crust. They can have toxic effects on the environment when chemically modified by procedures like mining, smelting, coal combustion. There has involvement in other industrial and agricultural purposes. Some domestic activities may be exposing their harmful effects on the body.
Volcanic eruptions, weather changes, and other major natural phenomena spread these pollutant metals in the environment. These metals are not safe for living beings and pollute the environment.
The most toxic of them are cadmium, mercury, and arsenic. They are documented to have deleterious effects on human health, as mentioned in the British Medical Bulletin in 2003. They are included in the ten most hazardous group of chemicals to human health according to the World Health Organization.
There are three routes for their entry into the body:
Respiratory route:
We can inhale microparticles of these heavy metal present in the air. These metals are released into the air by natural phenomena and industrial expansion. The metals are abundantly found in smoke released from cars into the atmosphere. Individuals who are employed in industries especially paper-processing plants and nuclear power stations are vulnerable to the harmful effects of heavy metals. Laborers who work in mines and factories are also at risk.
Oral Route:
Ingesting these heavy metals results in their accumulation in our body. Plants absorb these metals from the soil and animals eat these plants. In this way, when we eat meat or vegetables, we are feeding metals to ourselves. The industries dump their waste into the lakes and rivers. People use this water for drinking and agricultural purposes.
Skin:
The skin can absorb the microparticles of these heavy metals. We absorb these metals when we come in contact with the soil and when we breathe the air around us. Our eyes also absorb these toxic metals from the cornea.
Prolonged Exposure in Cancer-causing:
When exposed to sufficient amount of heavy metals, your body can develop cancer and other serious diseases associated with the cardiovascular and nervous system
What do they Cause?
– Long-term exposure to each of these heavy metals has disastrous effects on the body like:
– Lead causes kidney disease, paralysis of facial muscles and anemia.
– Mercury is responsible for the neurological disease, tremors, and inflammation of the mouth.
– Cadmium and Chromium lead to Bronchial (Lung) Cancer.
– Arsenic is poisonous; it manifests as diabetes, malignant skin tumors, and hypopigmented patches.
Follow these instructions to remove the heavy metals from your body:
The process can take long. You cannot avoid the exposure to these metals. Detoxifying the body by following these simple advice regarding your food and lifestyle will help you achieve this goal.
You must be willing to follow these instructions to reduce your exposure to the heavy metals found almost everywhere.
1. Keep yourself Hydrated:
65% of your body is water. That means that you cannot afford to lose a significant amount of water. Dehydration in itself is a cause for minor to major illness.
Drinking water is necessary for the important functions of our body and maintaining good health. Dehydration will not let you achieve any benefit from all kinds of detoxification methods until you correct it. Provide you body with abundant supplies of water to get the benefits of diet and exercise.
When dehydration is present, your body is under oxidative stress. It means that your immune functions are not at their peak performance. This oxidative stress augments the harmful actions of the toxic metals. Water helps reduce this stress and inactivation and elimination of toxins from our body.
An additional benefit of drinking a lot of water is that it transfers nutrients and minerals to the body tissues. These nutrients and minerals are utilized by the vital organs like the liver, kidneys, skin, lungs and, the intestines.
2. Include Cilantro in Diet:
The green cilantro leaves have a quality to eliminate heavy metals due to their anti-oxidant rich content. They can cause the kidneys to excrete these minerals that have toxic actions if they remain in activated form in the body.
There is no explanation that which ingredient of Cilantro is responsible for its eliminating action on heavy metals but a study was published by Acupuncture and Electrotherapeutics Research in 1995 denotes that the detoxifying nature of the plant was discovered accidently when it was eaten in form of soup.
The study also indicates its benefits in eliminating lead. Thus, you must use Cilantro in your diet. It has healthy effects on your organs and removes the heavy metals that have accumulated in your body.
3. Choose Fermented Food Products:
Although, the role of probiotics (gastrointestinal bacteria) in removing the toxic metals is not completely understood, the ingestion of fermented foods having probiotics is thought to be of some help.
Lactobacillus is a gastrointestinal bacteria also found in fermented food. It has an enzymatic action to bind the toxic heavy metals and transport it to the gut. They are removed in stools. This ability of Lactobacillus helped in reducing heavy metal concentrations in the body, as concluded in a study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, in 2012.
The Journal of Applied Microbiology published a study in 2012, regarding the heavy metals elimination property of various lactobacilli. 255 strains of lactobacillus were isolated to be tested. 26 strains come up to expectations of having excellent ability to remove Cadmium and lead in when the body was fully hydrated.
That gives us a good reason to include the fermented products having this bacteria in our daily diet. These foods include cottage cheese, fermented tempeh, and tofu. You can also eat probiotic yogurt, cucumber pickles and drinks made of kefir that contain lactobacillus.
4. Sauna Bathing
Sauna bathing is an effective remedy for removal of these heavy metals out of your body. The sauna bath makes you sweat and absorb heat that causes these toxic metals to purge out of the skin.
The sauna bathing should continue for a longer period than is required for normal sauna sessions. These should be under observation by a medical expert to avoid any risk. Usually the older persons should be monitored because they are vulnerable to the thermogenic effects of sauna bathing. It has otherwise no side effects
A better removal of these heavy metals can be achieved by infrared rays used in sauna bathing after discussing with your doctor. The duration and frequency of the session should be decided.
5. Eat polyphenols Rich Diet:
Polyphenols are micronutrients with the ability to fight serious diseases like cancer and heart disease. These are richly found in most of the foods.
Foods that are abundant in polyphenols include cloves, cocoa powder, green tea , oregano, star anise and dried peppermint. They are richly found in fruit and vegetables like strawberries, elderberries, chokeberries, plums and black currants.
Another benefit hidden in polyphenol diet is that the speed up the production of metallothionein. The same is an enzyme that metabolizes heavy metals, simultaneously, detoxifying them.
A 2010 study published in the Journal of Food Science found out that liquid like red wine, red grape juice and green tea increase formation of metallothionein in the body tissues.
The more polyphenol foods you add in your diet, the more heavy metals in your body get eliminated.
6. Eat Sulfur-Rich Green Vegetables:
Our body relies upon anti-oxidants in fighting the toxins and inactivating their disease-causing abilities. Glutathione is an important antioxidant that has a primary role in removing the heavy metals from the body. It binds the toxic metals and transports them through the blood vessels to the liver and kidneys. These organs detoxify or eliminate the heavy metals.
The production of this enzyme is stopped by Arsenic accumulation in the body. A 2013 study was published in the Environmental Health Perspectives; that mentioned the significantly low levels of glutathione in a group of 378 persons who ingested different amounts of Arsenic dissolved in water.
The levels of glutathione in the body can be increased by vegetables rich in sulfur content.
These vegetables include onions, garlic, collard, watercress, leeks, and shallots. Other green vegetables like spinach, broccoli, kale and Brussel sprouts boost up glutathione production.
7. Milk Thistle:
It is one kind of herb that nourishes the liver to increase its efficacy in detoxifying the heavy metals. The liver is the primary organs for detoxification of heavy metals. Milk thistle supplies energy to the liver cells. The active ingredient is Milk Thistle is Silymarin.
A 2006 study published in Indian Journal of Medical Research concluded that Silymarin is a strong agent in enhancing heavy metal detoxification. It has a positive effect on glutathione production and negative effect on its elimination.
– Milk thistle can be used in milk or tea.
– Add one teaspoon of ground milk thistle seeds or a milk thistle tea bag to a cup of hot water
– Grind the seeds of milk thistle or buy it in the ground form.
– Add one teaspoon in hot water or get a milk thistle tea bag.
– Let it dissolve for 10 minutes.
6 cups of milk thistle tea in one day are ideal to get your body free of the heavy metals.
Regular Exercise:
Exercising regularly gives strength to your body to fight the toxins. It improves circulation of blood to all the organs and tissues in the body. This affects increases the transport of heavy metals to the intestines and kidneys.
Exercise causes a basal increase in metabolism and energy production speeding up the process of elimination of toxic heavy metals from the body. The exercise should be tiring causing you to sweat. However, you must take your doctor’s advice before starting a heavy exercise.
In the 2010 study named Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, It was observed that the amount of heavy metals in the urine increases after exercise supporting the belief that exercise is a effective manner of detoxifying your body.
The blood taken after or during exercise also had greater concentrations of heavy metals.
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