Doctor and educator Bryan Walsh is back with us to discuss his latest area of focus: detoxification. Our environment is awash in pollutants and toxic compounds resulting largely from modern industrial and agricultural practices and products. These are known to interrupt normal biological functioning, commonly acting as carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. Short of escaping the grid and hunkering down on a mountain somewhere, how should we best deal with this toxic onslaught?

Many practitioners recommend their version of a “detox” or fasting program to combat xenobiotics.  But, as Bryan discusses in detail, these protocols might actually cause more harm than good.  Not only that, but common supplements aimed at supporting detoxification may be doing just the opposite. In other words, you’ve probably been doing detox wrong.

If you like this podcast and you want to know more about this topic, check out Bryan’s latest course, Everything You Wanted to Know about Detoxification. You’ll learn a ton and also get access to Bryan’s own detoxification program based on his extensive research of the scientific literature.

[00:00:20] Podcast: Social Isolation: The Most Important Topic Nobody is Talking About with Dr. Bryan Walsh. Other previous podcast interviews with us: The Secret to Good Health Coaching and How to Understand Glucose Regulation.

[00:01:46] Why the focus on detoxification?

[00:03:44] Metabolic Fitness Pro website.

[00:05:51] Phase 0 and 3 detoxification.

[00:07:00] Phase 0. Study: Döring, Barbara, and Ernst Petzinger. "Phase 0 and phase III transport in various organs: Combined concept of phases in xenobiotic transport and metabolism." Drug metabolism reviews 46.3 (2014): 261-282.

[00:07:11] Biphasic response.

[00:09:25] Water solubility and excretion.

[00:10:33] Liver and kidney.

[00:10:58] Phase 0 is in flux.

[00:11:29] Phase 1 adds or exposes a hydroxyl group.

[00:12:47] Phase 2 is conjugation.

[00:13:19] Phase 3 efflux of the water soluble.

[00:14:12] Do all toxins fall under the same umbrella?

[00:15:16] Non-monotonic dose response of endocrine disruptors. Study: Vandenberg, Laura N., et al. "Hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals: low-dose effects and nonmonotonic dose responses." Endocrine reviews 33.3 (2012): 378-455.

[00:16:22] Source of exposures.

[00:18:24] Glyphosate: Unsafe On Any Plate. Food Testing Results and Scientific Reasons for Concern.

[00:20:17] Xenobiotics, cancer, cardiovascular disease.

[00:20:56] Multiple chemical sensitivity.

[00:21:32] Subjective questionnaires that might point to toxicity issues. Some such questionnaires: 1 (evaluated here), 2, 3 (discussed here).

[00:22:21] Fasting.

[00:23:34] Are you healthy enough to fast?

[00:24:00] Yo-yo dieting in mice. Study: Jandacek, Ronald J., et al. "Effects of yo-yo diet, caloric restriction, and olestra on tissue distribution of hexachlorobenzene." American journal of physiology-Gastrointestinal and liver physiology288.2 (2005): G292-G299. Other studies suggesting the same: References 1, 2.

[00:25:27] Adipose is for sequestering toxins. Study: La Merrill, Michele, et al. "Toxicological function of adipose tissue: focus on persistent organic pollutants." Environmental health perspectives121.2 (2013): 162.

[00:26:10] Mice with increased uterine weights after fasting. Study: Bigsby, Robert M., Andrea Caperell-Grant, and Burra V. Madhukar. "Xenobiotics released from fat during fasting produce estrogenic effects in ovariectomized mice." Cancer research 57.5 (1997): 865-869.

[00:26:54] Valter Longo’s Fasting Mimicking Diet.

[00:27:59] Low-calorie diet, chlorines in blood, hypothyroid markers. Two studies: Pelletier, Cl, P. Imbeault, and A. Tremblay. "Energy balance and pollution by organochlorines and polychlorinated biphenyls." Obesity reviews 4.1 (2003): 17-24. And: Dirinck, Eveline, et al. "A preliminary link between hydroxylated metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls and free thyroxin in humans." International journal of environmental research and public health 13.4 (2016): 421.

[00:31:04] Sprouted mung beans.

[00:32:16] ~360 references in the course.

[00:32:44] Lab testing is inaccurate.

[00:33:49] Decreasing calories 25% increases Phase 3. Study: Renaud, Helen J., Curtis D. Klaassen, and Iván L. Csanaky. "Calorie restriction increases P-glycoprotein and decreases intestinal absorption of digoxin in mice." Drug Metabolism and Disposition44.3 (2016): 366-369.

[00:34:42] Curcumin and black pepper block phase 3.

[00:35:31] Sprouted mung beans. Study: Walaszek, Zbigniew, et al. "D-glucaric acid content of various fruits and vegetables and cholesterol-lowering effects of dietary D-glucarate in the rat." Nutrition Research 16.4 (1996): 673-681.

[00:36:20] 30 minutes of exercise followed by sauna.

[00:37:41] Honeybush and rooibos teas.

[00:38:45] Binders: Bile acid sequestrants and fibers.

[00:38:57] Enterohepatic recirculation.

[00:39:57] St John's Wort.

[00:41:04] Milk thistle inhibits phase 3.

[00:41:24] Sulforaphane: relative benefit depends on the context.

[00:43:10] How do they evaluate increased or decreased detoxification?

[00:43:29] Quercetin decreased mRNA levels. Study: Liu, Yani, et al. "Impact of quercetin‑induced changes in drug‑metabolizing enzyme and transporter expression on the pharmacokinetics of cyclosporine in rats." Molecular medicine reports14.4 (2016): 3073-3085.

[00:44:24] A given compound could have different effects on different organs

[00:45:22] Acute dose vs chronic dosing.

[00:46:52] Specific amounts of certain vegetables having specific effects. References 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

[00:48:19] drwalsh.com and metabolicfitnesspro.com. Dr. Walsh’s new course: Everything You Wanted to Know About Detoxification.