Holistic

Whether fashion, a favorite football team, or certain music, we enjoy being part of a group.  Is your urban tribe goth, surfer, hipster or biker, with the contrarian viewpoint that produces the most oxytocin from being holistic?

I'm 'coming out of the closet' and labeling myself as holistic by joining the HDA.

Need quick answers that educate while leaving the questioner smiling and curious.

What is different about a holistic dentist?

  It is like I'm no longer hypnotized, the 'chains' of my conventional training are gone.  

  I have stopped being an 'authority' and instead am asking lots of questions.  

  Instead of looking for one cause, I now consider the entire family as well as what and how we eat.  

  I also try to treat less toxically.

How do you view nutrition?

  Intent matters and variety is stimulating!

  Pleasure and happiness come first.  

  

  Brain and gut work together.  

  Help of bacteria is mandatory.  The food we eat feeds both biofilm and us.  

  

  We are more alert if not full. 

  Separating food into protein, fats and carbohydrates is arbitrary and inherently misleading. 

  Calories are measured in an oven and do not quantify the interplay with biofilm or metabolism.

  Excess sweet signals us to retain toxins and fat; sugar mechanically increases both pathogenicity and inflammatory response. 

  Bitter hones nuances of sweet and triggers alertness.  Bitter enhances digestion and induces epigenetic strengthening (hormesis). 

  

  Germination improves messaging, food quality and removes toxins. 

  Fermentation removes toxins and creates baking's magnetic aroma as well as sour and many tantalizing tastes.

Aren't you vegetarian?

  Only intermittently.  However, eating mostly vegetables benefits us and the world.  

  Fermented food is especially nourishing, and it breeds animals too tiny to see.  Seaweed is very nutritious, partly because it carries many microscopic   

 mollusks.  

  It turns out that mild stress 'is essential' and induces metabolic and genetic strengthening; we call this surprising response hormesis.  

  An assiduous vegan diet does not supply all 'essential' nutrients and is mildly stressful (inducing hormesis).

  Humans are fittest with a varied diet, and not eating occasionally, otherwise we become too soft and store toxins.

Why are you buying ice cream?

 My rational brain knows sugar is dangerous.  

 However, I am addicted (as you) to sweet ice cream, cookies, cakes and brownies as well as salty fried or baked chips amped with 'natural' flavors that include sugar and MSG.

Authoritative perspective is provided by Steven N. Green, DDS. 

He is a second-generation mercury-poisoned dentist (and Eagle Scout); a graduate with honors who was asked to publish and become a dental teacher. Dr. Green is former president of the HDA (Holistic Dental Association) and member of IAOMT (International Association of Medicine and Toxicology) as well as the functional medicine group and orthomolecular society.  He was also president of Miami's lay group, PATH (Positive Alternative Therapies in Healthcare).

He has formed courses about nutrition and toxicology plus a useful clinical way to evaluate risk quickly (with a lingual test).

Read a course at no risk! 

You decide how much its worth and make a donation or seek a consultation:

stevenngreen@hotmail.com or Steven Green, DDS, 216 River Drive, Tequesta, Fl, 33469 (after groceries, half is intended for the HDA).

Suggested donations are $79 for the courses on nutrition or toxicology and $29 for Dr, Green's quick evaluation of reductive capacity.

Toxicology

Toxicity creates pathogenic biofilm and both cause irritability

We have always lived in a world with many poisons, some hidden.  We can avoid some, but others are invisible, tasteless and odorless.  What does it mean to be “toxic?” We are no longer invincible, our protective aura (symbiotic biofilm) is lost; instead we feel fragile, and that alters motivation and makes mind and mood edgy.  

At first, toxic irritation is invigorating.  Intermittent mild stress creates reactive ionic species that trigger metabolic and genetic adaptation that makes the cells of biofilm and us more alert and efficient.  

However, continued stress overcomes host adaptive capacity and changes biofilm (which may be diagnosed as an infection), and depressive plus irritability symptoms magnify until the alarm of awareness.  Homeopathic dilutions of lead or mercury are 'proven' to make one more aggressive, argumentative and/or combative.

Toxicity occurs when chemicals build up and can no longer be quickly metabolized (inseparable from biofilm alteration).  Our immune cells can no longer defend or detoxify us.  Their action becomes futile.

Along with pathogenic biofilm (often farmed by attracted parasites), toxicity triggers inflammation and exhausts host buffering capacity, creates irritability, cellular damage and harm to tissues, glands, organs (as well as relationships).  

Every 'ecosystem' has a threshold for toxicity.  At some point, toxicity turns into lethality and kills half (LD50).  An LD50 is a standard measurement of acute toxicity that is stated in milligrams per kilogram of body weight (in the usual linear way that toxicity is measured along its entire curve of effects). 

However, when poisons are tested, cells surprisingly thrive on little bits.  Cells metabolically and genetically adapt positively to tiny amounts of toxins.  This beneficial biphasic hardening and survival response is called hormesis.  Depending on point of view, expectation, biofilm, dose, conditioning and genetics, "one man's meat is another man's poison."

From the International Academy of Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) or Holistic Dental Association (HDA) viewpoint, one reaches minority opinions.  Those different conclusions (which may be very clear from your perspective) are inherently unsettling to most previous programming, so such thinking is commonly instinctively (and usually cleverly) ridiculed. 

"if you don't look, you won't find," was attributed to Davy Crockett in the first published dental article on diagnosis. Many dangerous toxins are invisible.  A practical way to discover toxicity is hair and/or fecal analysis (which can also describe gut dysbiosis), although these non-invasive assessments are often discredited.

Heavy metal toxicity is an uncommon medical diagnosis.  Except acute iron toxicity from intentional or unintentional ingestion and suspected lead exposure, physicians will rarely be alerted to the possibility of metal exposure. Yet, if unrecognized or inappropriately treated, heavy metal exposure can result in significant morbidity and mortality. 

Many of the elements that can be considered heavy metals have no known benefit for human physiology. Lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium are prime examples of "toxic metals." 

Yet, other metals are essential biochemically.  Zinc is an important cofactor for many enzymatic reactions, vitamin B-12 has a cobalt at its core, and hemoglobin contains iron.  Copper, selenium, manganese, chromium and molybdenum are all trace elements, which are dietarily important. 

Another subset of metals includes those used therapeutically; aluminum, bismuth, gold, gallium, lithium and silver are all used medically.  Any of these may have pernicious effects in quantity or if the usual mechanisms of elimination are impaired.

Some elements have very different toxic profiles depending on their chemistry.  Barium sulfate is basically nontoxic.  However, barium salts are rapidly absorbed and cause profound, potentially fatal hypokalemia. 

The toxicity of radioactive metals is more about their emitted particles, but they also bind to us.  Radioactivity is invisible and, so far, an unavoidable part of nuclear energy,  The ruling class' addiction to power is a problem.  

Beside dentists placing and removing amalgams (or eventual cremation), invisible vaporous mercury is released into the air and water whenever anything burns, whether by accident, to produce energy or process garbage.  

Exposure may occur via diet, medications, the environment, or in work or play.  When heavy metal toxicity is suspected, care taken in a dietary, occupational and recreational history is time well spent, since identification and removal of exposure is often the only therapy necessary.

Toxicity damage often comes from oxidation (a common strategy in our atmosphere) and more insidiously, acting as a hormonal mimic.  Oxidation causes porous cell membranes, cytoplasm leaks out and extra-cellular fluid leaks in.  Cells rupture.  Toxicity triggers free radicals (ROS) that cause a chain reaction of oxidative damage (like a forest fire exploding after a single spark).

Total load is the full amount of stressors on enzyme capacity at any time.  It’s like what happens when a rain barrel fills with water. It takes a certain amount of water to fill and then, after it is full, if you put anything in, it overflows.

Toxicity brings about derangement of all physiologic functions, with biochemical imbalance in the tissues; autotoxemia; chronic under-supply of oxygen; poorer digestion, ineffective assimilation of nutrients and lowered resistance to disease.  

We become irritable (have 'justifiable' flareups) when both host and biofilm detoxification systems get overloaded and then finally overwhelmed.  It may take a long time to become aware.  Close associates usually bear the brunt of irritable behavior and notice long before we do.

Governments of the US, Britain, Canada and Australia have suppressed or misrepresented inconvenient findings on climate change, pollution, pesticides, fisheries and wildlife. They have shut down programs that produce unwelcome information and sought to muzzle scientists. This limits academic dissent on behalf of bad science and corporate power.

There is little 'scientific' evidence to support claims that detoxification improves health, and the cluster of symptoms for which detoxification programs are prescribed is so general like irritability, cardiovascular disease, depression or 'brain fog' that it’s often impossible to know the cause or whether detoxification really is a cure. 

Present in contaminated food, industrial and medical waste and beauty products as well as environmental pollutants, heavy metals are a major part of daily life and wreck havoc on our minds and well-being. Despite that there are over a dozen heavy metals which can cause health issues, arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, aluminum and cadmium are the most common. 

Heavy metals displace vitamins and essential minerals, which disorders both metabolism and detoxification. 

Immunity also weakens, which allows infections (especially parasitic), cancer and chronic disease. Neurological disorders like Alzheimer's, ADHD, autism, aggression, epilepsy, memory loss, developmental delays, depression, anxiety, bipolar, insomnia and migraines all have roots in toxicity. Heavy metals cause arrhythmias, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease as well as artery-clogging plaque (pathogenic biofilm stuck to endotheium). 

If cells contain metal, they will attract and enhance electrical frequencies like a lightning rod, which makes them more likely to develop symptoms.  The more heavy metals on board, the more trouble generated by EMFs.  Other clues are migraines, dark circles under the eyes, muscle tremors, sensitive teeth, inability to lose weight, acne, parasites, low body temperature, metallic taste and chemical sensitivities like smoke, paint fumes and perfumes.

The body already robustly detoxifies.  The liver snags cirulating toxins, the kidneys flush out digestive byproducts like uric acid and mineral buildup, and the lungs filter the air and expels junk via exhalation and coughing.  The skin eliminates toxins via sweat (and blemishes), while the intestines host huge colonies of bacteria that neutralize toxins and help us eliminate wastes.

Our bodies aren’t always up to dchallenges, and we respond better to early care than to late, dramatic interventions. Conventional medicine typically deals with toxicity issues only when our own systems are at risk of totally shutting down.  Far from perfect dialysis machines are used to replace the filtering action of failed kidneys; chelation (which also binds to essential elements) is sometimes used to remove impurities. 

Conventional therapists tend to write off detox programs for relatively healthy people as both unnecessary and potentially dangerous.  Holistic practitioners point out that long before our organs show signs of failing, they show signs of overload and stress. 

Given the many environmental and food-related toxins, strengthening and supporting elimination systems makes sense.  Detoxification is an effective way to protect and improve health and vitality, and may even help resolve longstanding problems. 

Some practices related to detoxification, like colonics, may affect electrolyte balance.  Another detoxification approach, taking laxative herbs, may disturb healthy digestive tract biofilm, and cause loss of important minerals, like sodium, potassium and magnesium.

We currently suspect that total load threatens human reproductive capacity.  Industry does not look for total load.  Interpretation of data depends on reward, perspective, vigor, dose, dilution and conditioning.  Generally, because of hormetic biphasic response, a single chemical's impact can be argued.  The result is endless discussion, while we are exposed to more and more toxins.

Any biologic agent, electromagnetic field, vibration or toxin that mimics normal can alter commands and is especially dangerous.  Any signal that doesn't mimic biologic levels is treated as noise.  Noise affects everything.  Noise impacts sleep patterns, causes headaches and affects learning and focus.  Noise's result is increased irritability, which elevates stress for everyone.

Toxins disable detoxification and/or through mimicry, confuse hormones.  Heavy metals like mercury, lead, arsenic and cadmium clog metabolic and detoxification enzymes by replacing lighter minerals (like Ca2+, Mg2+, Zn2+ and Se2+).  Even aluminum is heavier than flitting lighter minerals.  

With halogens, lighter, smaller ions (like Fl-, Cl- and Br-) compete with and replace larger, heavier essential iodine (I-).

Toxicity comes from eating, drinking and/or breathing more poison than we and our biofilm can avoid absorbing, eliminate or detoxify.  We live in a world full of potential poisons and our cells 'effortlessly' detoxify most (plus conditioning with mild stresses paradoxically makes us stronger, metabolically and genetically).

Once toxins reach critical mass, we (and our biofilm) benefit from help getting these chemicals out.  Because of resultant irritability and combativeness, those with whom we have social contact also benefit from less toxic load.   Disturbed biofilm also alters host inflammatory response. 

Even though there is some initial beneficial hormetic effect from extremely dilute poisons, at some relative level of accumulation, toxins overwhelm detoxification capacity (both current as well as epigenetically induced over time) and irritability symptoms of toxic overload arise.

Poor digestion and absorption occur with a pathogenic biofilm.  Leaky gut overwhelms host buffering capacity.  This is how one can be toxic without being aware (we become irritable, and attempt hiding over-responsiveness).  

With a leaky gut (which does not necessarily cause pain), the lining gets inflamed.  Poor barrier function as well as disabled digestion and assimilation comes from inflammation.  Inflammation is  triggered by pathogenic bacteria, parasite eggs, virulent virus, overgrowth of fungi, air-born toxins, food allergies/sensitivities, chemicals and drugs. 

If you are not sure whether or not irritability is important, you can ask your inner self.  Are you more anxious, agitated or sensitive than usual? Resultant depression demotivates and kills.  Violence becomes more easily triggered (and mayhem is usually not the answer).

Do you frequently feel pride in not criticizing the incompetence of those around you? Are you sleeping soundly? Do you have unexplained internal aches or reddish skin areas that are also itchy? Are you decisive or fence sitting? Can you see a future or do you feel stuck? Do you have floaters? Is it easy for your eyes to focus or do you have blurry vision? 

Analytical Research Laboratories was founded by Dr. Paul Eck.  His protocols included hair analysis.   Aluminum causes a lot of chronic pain; you often see it in fibromyalgia. Metal toxicity always causes pathogenic biofilm, which exhausts host buffering capacity and creates fatigue and chronic adrenal exhaustion.  Suspected sources of toxicity can be explored with analysis of hair and feces (although, the is much variation in excretion capacity).  All chronic illness includes chronic fatigue and adrenal exhaustion, whether you deny it or not.  Many will say, “Oh, I have lots of energy,” but they do not (or they would not be chronically ill).  There is no conventional treatment for adrenal fatigue unless you have reached total failure, when cortical hormones are prescribed. Therefore, like toxic metals which creates both pathogenic biofilm and adrenal fatigue, these conditions are typically not discussed (or tested for) by experts.  All stress triggers an adrenal reaction. The body can increase the output of adrenal hormones by 50 times or more in a split second.  For every minute one experiences stress, it takes 60 minutes to remove the flood of adrenal stress hormones, Stress is mostly perceived.  Adrenal burnout typically involves more than one lifestyle factor. Because diet is something that we can control, it is the first step that we can take in managing stress.  Stabilizing blood sugar is crucial since cortisol is released to manage blood sugar levels.  The adrenals need minerals to thrive. Eat plenty of ocean vegetables and supplement with the buffering blend of humic, fulvic, micro, and macro minerals and amino acids.  Pathogenic biofilm (often caused by parasites), adrenal fatigue and toxic metal buildup are strongly related and typically occur together.  One cannot excrete metal without good adrenals.  Adrenal function needs to be pretty close to normal or one starts retaining metals. The first sign of adrenal fatigue is internal irritability and reliance on stimulants (coffee, tea, chocolate, or energy drinks)). If the idea of going without your stimulant is an issue, you have adrenal fatigue (and the most likely cause is one's biofilm switching from symbiotic to pathogenic due to excessive sugar, toxicity and/or parasites). Many get by on stimulants, since the body can no longer maintain appropriate cortisol.  Stimulants can include behavioral and emotional versions like overexercise, workaholism and even constant worry, like putting yourself in a fear state and indulging in anger.  Stresses trigger the adrenals and keep you from feeling fatigue. Common signs of adrenal exhaustion are weight gain, fatigue, mood changes, gut disorders, and a lower sex drive. Symptoms of adrenal burnout are premature wrinkles, trouble sleeping, reduced bone health, heavy achy joints, fatigue and increased susceptibility as one can no longer maintain appropriate cortisol.  It is essential to support the entire parasympathetic system including the liver.  Eliminate parasites and make one's metabolism change from oxidizing sugars, making and storing fat (and toxins as well as attracting pathogens).  The key is to fast intermittently and provide little sugar.  Keeping 'protein' roughly 10%, one switches starches and sugars to fats, while consuming food and herbs that pathogens don't like.  Fill up on green leaves (washed with an iodine solution).   Fats also promote efficient brain function and calm the attitude. Consider: garlic, onion, coconut oil, pumpkin seeds, coconut kefir, fermented vegetables, apple cider vinegar, aloe vera, green black walnut hulls, cloves (oil), cinnamon, barberry, goldenseal, Oregon grape root, pau d'arco, sangre de drago, oregano (oil), wormwood, rosemary and thyme. Eliminate ordinary sugars.  Simple sugars enhance virulence and encourage inflammation.  Instead, bitter increases the taste of sweet.  Bitter tastes encourage parasympathetic response which is calming and shuts down painful inflammation, promoting healing and repair.   Remembering that parasites don't like bitter, as sweetener, use the alcohol sugars (xylitol, mannitol, eryrthritol) or tiny bits of the herb stevia.  Avoid whole or refined grains, factory-farmed meat, dairy or eggs and alcohol over two full moons (when parasites are most active, and for a better chance to get their progeny). Consume lots of water and fiber along with the foods and herbs that parasites don't like.  Enhanced bowel movements tend to eliminate parasites (as well as toxins).  If you create the right intestinal ecology (often with the help of probiotics), it will make it more difficult for the very clever parasites to make you again a host. With continuous stress (toxicity and/or parasites), adrenals do not function normally and one begins to retain all kinds of toxins.  Once a certain threshold is reached, the toxins themselves become a major stressor.  Constantly poisoned, the adrenals get weaker and weaker.  Even if one tries 'it all' (eating well and trying to rest as well as doing yoga) one cannot get better, because there is already toxic metal build up (usually with parasites) continually sapping energy.  The hippocampis governs emotion and memory.  Chronic stress causes the brain to generate fewer neurons and more myelin-producing cells. This results in more white matter in certain areas of the brain, disrupting the balance and timing of communication.   Prolonged stress develops a stronger connection between the hippocampus and the amygdalae (fight or flight), while weakening the hippocampal connection with the prefrontal cortex, which moderates those responses. This results in quicker fear responses, as well as reduced ability to shut down those responses.  Chronic stress affects stem cells in the hippocampus. Ordinarily, these cells develop into an astrocyte (glial cell).  Under chronic stress, these glial cells mature differently and become myelin-producing  oligodendrocytes.  Oligodendrocytes also help form synapses.  Fewer neurons are formed under chronic stress (memory and learning). It is entirely possible to heal from adrenal fatigue, although it does take time and a positive mental attitude.  Establish a symbiotic biofilm.  Eat organic foods.  Consuming a wide variety of vegetables and fruits promotes buffering capacity.  Juicing helps absorption. Herbs (likely by inducing hormesis) that help strengthen (the adrenals) include Western chamomile, Indian ashwagandha, Russian rhodiola (Siberian ginseng) and Chinese cordyceps.  Herbs are most effective when cycled, otherwise adaptation tends to occur.  All trace minerals are restorative.  The B vitamins, especially pantothenic acid, nourish and calm. Mild exercise or sunshine triggers hormesis. Yoga and Qi Gong relax and strengthen.  Exercise, a centered attitude, bright light during the day, rest and sleep, in rhythm, promote healing. Excessive stress creates toxicity.  Let go of the past, resolve issues so that you can find what makes you happy and nurtures your soul.  Release fear and worry.  Don't fear the future; be in the now. Thoughts have powerful impact. Trust, love and peace create miracles; while fear, anger or resentment block positive energies and attract negative situations.  Practice relaxation.

Most toxins produce or induce ROS, but if super-diluted, we adapt.

What does not kill biofilm and host, makes cells of biofilm and host hormetically more efficient and stronger.  This response is minimized or magnified by one's chosen practiced emotional attitude and perception; if one is cool and imperturbable; or if one is irritable (from lack or excess) and as a result, excessively vigilant.  

Toxicity (perceived depending on viewpoint, vigor, other toxins and conditioning as well as amount) creates psychological and physiological irritability as well as hormetic biologic response in both host and biofilm, which includes metabolic and epigenetic change.  

Nitric oxide (NO) is a bioactive gaseous, multifunctional free radical that is pivotable in responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, including heavy metals.  NO alleviates heavy metal toxicity (by reducing oxidative damage).

It is simpler to think that every compound could be categorized as either good or bad.  There are toxins; there are nutrients.  Toxins are bad; nutrients are good.  

Because of hormesis, nothing is all good or all bad; result comes from amount (and our response).  Small amounts of arsenic and/or cyanide surprisingly increase growth.  Whole grains fatten farm animals (and small children) faster.  Caffeine or nicotine, depending on many factors, including dose and perception, provide beneficial or harmful effects.    

All eukaryotic cells need O2 to produce efficient energy.  This obscures oxygen as a toxic mutagenic gas; aerobes survive because they have antioxidant defenses. 

Hormesis is a new finding (as science becomes more sophisticated) and old observation (of royalty, the Ninja, healers and homeopaths about diluted toxins.  A 'secret' formula containing many diluted poisons was the best selling concoction in a Rome pharmacy for 2,000 years. 

Hormesis is explained as a 'programmed' biologic survival response.  In hormesis, a toxin is bad for you in large amounts; but the very same toxin is beneficial in exceedingly small doses.  

Surprisingly (due to inherent adaptive biologic response to ROS) called hormesis, tiny bits of toxins stimulate defensive mechanisms.  Hormesis changes metabolism and even genetic expression, which hardens and strengthens us and protects from that poison (and many others).  

Defensive toxins made by plants (lectins and polyphenols) are high in grains and beans (likely protecting genetic information).  These 'poisons' induce hormesis when consumed in small intermittent amounts (seasonally); or become harmful when eaten in high continuous amounts.  

The threshold between help and harm depends on perception, genetics and conditioning (epigenetic capacity).  Context is important.  Steroidogenic and steroid-inactivating enzymes and adrenal and sex steroid receptors co-evolved. 

Steroids are typically divided into five groups (not including vitamin D), based mostly on the receptor to which they bind: glucocorticoids (mostly cortisol);  mineralocorticoids (mostly aldosterone); androgens (testosterone); estrogens, (estrodiol and estrone); progestins  (progesterone). 

A steroid hormone diffuses into a cell and is detected by a specific receptor, which then invades the nucleus, where genes are.  Once inside the nucleus, the courier part of the receptor recognizes the target gene and latches onto it, thus triggering only that gene.

Progesterone and estrogen are very close to one another in structure, differing primarily in the polarity of one hydrogen bond.  That places progesterone among 3-keto steroids (testosterone, androgens, cortisone and others), while estrogen is a 3-hydroxy steroid.  Hormone receptors are large, complicated molecules with substructures responsible for various functions.

Neural and systemic trophic effects of the UV part of sunlight through the skin-vitamin D endocrine system are considered as alternate or additional to the neuroendocrine effects of the visual part of light through the retino--diencephalic input. 

The extensive distribution of soltriol nuclear receptor cells indicate that vitamin D-soltriol keys the actinic induction of seasonal biorhythms. This is independent of the traditionally assigned effects of vitamin D on systemic calcium. 

Skin-soltriol mediated seasonal, and to a degree daily, genomic activation involves many target regions. These include the amygdala, the linked part of the stria terminalis, hypothalamus, dorsal raphe and autonomic, endocrine as well as sensory and motor parts of brainstem and spinal cord. 

Beside the eye-regulated "suprachiasmatic clock", there is existence of a soltriol-vitamin D regulated neural "timing circuit."  Both, activation and organizational effects of soltrioi on mature and developing brain regions likely help regulate neuronal functions that include biorhythms. 

Soltriol's central effects correlate with peripheral effects on parts of skin, bone, teeth, kidney, intestine, heart and blood vessels, endocrine organs, and the immune and reproductive systems. 

The steroid hormone 1α,25(OH)2D3 is pluripotent and initiates physiologic responses in around 36 cell types (that possess its receptor). In addition to the kidney's endocrine production of circulating 1α,25(OH)2D3_, there is paracrine production of this steroid in about 10 other organs. 

Vitamin D mediates not only calcium homeostasis (intestine, bone, kidney and parathyroid).  Vitamin D functions as a pluripotent hormone in 5 other physiologic arenas. These are the adaptive and innate immune systems, insulin secretion, multifactorial heart functioning and blood pressure regulation, and brain and fetal development. 

Adding an oral vitamin D supplement to regular intranasal corticosteroid can improve symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis beyond that of corticosteroids alone (in patients who are not vitamin D deficient),  Besides stabilizing cell membranes, vitamin D aids generation of antimicrobial peptides. Vitamin D also has many immunological effects on T cells, dendritic cells and macrophages,  

In the double-blind placebo-controlled study, patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis received fluticasone propionate 200 µg/day, and were randomized to receive either vitamin D 4,000 IU/day for 2 weeks (n = 17) or placebo (n = 18).

Serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels are considered normal at around 30 ng/dL.  After 2 weeks, levels in those taking vitamin D group rose to 37-40 ng/dL.  "Just giving vitamin D on top created almost a 50% improvement."

The hormesis of glucocorticoids and cognition is dynamic.  Glucocorticoids and the noradrenergic system (emphasizing the amygdala) participate.  These two systems interact with other brain regions.  The biphasic hormetic influence of glucocorticoids on cognitive function is the interplay between systems trying to act on and/or counteract the effects of stress. 

Stress initially enhances hippocampal function, resulting from amygdala-induced excitation of hippocampal synaptic plasticity, as well as the excitatory effects of corticosteroids, norepinephrine, corticotropin-releasing hormone, acetylcholine and dopamine. 

Rapid activation of the amygdala-hippocampus brain memory system results in a linear dose-response relation between emotional strength and memory.  More prolonged stress leads to inhibition of hippocampal function, which may be due to compensatory responses that protect neurons from excitotoxicity. 

Steroids are derivatives of cholesterol. synthesized by many tissues, mostly adrenals and gonads. The precursor comes from cholesterol made from acetate, from cholesterol ester stores in intracellular lipid droplets or from cholesterol-containing low density lipoproteins. 

Lipoproteins from plasma are most important when steroidogenic cells are chronically stimulated.

Biosynthesis of steroids requires many oxidative enzymes located in both mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum.  Rate-limiting is the transport of free cholesterol from the cytoplasm into mitochondria.

Plants don’t make hormetic chemicals for our benefit, they are made to be toxic and thus invite the eater to eat something else.

Germinating creates more nutritious 'plants' from seeds that carry many toxins.  Germinating and fermenting (inseparable) improves nutrition while removing toxins.  

Cooking food removes some toxins, but if too hot (over 365F), creates metabolically stressful browned advanced glycation end-products (AGEs).  Stopping dry cooking or frying when food turns a golden yellow minimizes formation of harmful AGEs.  Cooking with water does not create AGEs.  Simmering (a lower temperature than boiling) is gentlest with foods.  

Marinating meats before broiling or BBQing.  (My favorite is apple cider plus balsamic vinegars, olive oil and herbs).  Marinating tenderizes meat, adds flavor, kills microorganisms and markedly reduces heat-induced toxins.  Sour citrus juices are another way to preserve and/or prepare grains or animal flesh.

Increased metabolic efficiency, growth and detoxification are surprisingly stimulated by little bits of toxins.  Both non-adaptive and adaptive mechanisms underly ion-induced hormetic growth and increased metabolic efficiency.  Defense mechanisms can be activated by metal ions and pathogenic elicitors as well as cross talk between signals of metal ions and biotic stressors.

Homeopathy detoxifies by hormetic response.

Besides their many chosen effects, homeopathic preparations tend to improve blood circulation and help the body gently release accumulated toxins and wastes. Herbal homeopathic remedies are usually diluted toxins and have more drainage action when used in relatively low potencies (dilutions) of 3X (times),6X, 3C (hundreds of times), 5C.

Mercury is so prevalent and toxic (and lead is also toxic and prevalent) that mercury or lead homeopathic remedies are often so diluted so that only energetic imprints remain (vibrated as memory into the water).

Homeopathic drainage therapy is very effective and aids any detoxification.  Complex mixtures of drainage medicines are available and widely used. Typical treatment takes 3-10 weeks and usually depends on the person`s strength. Homeopathic drainage minimizes side effects and is compatible with other therapies. 

Anything that induces hormesis (besides homeopathic remedies) enhances cell level metabolic and genetic efficiency as well as detoxification.  Hormesis is induced by many efforts that have little risk coupled with much reward.

Examples of (detoxification) improvers are: cold showers, hot then cold baths, swimming (especially far under water), cooling breezes, exercise (benefits increase outdoors and even more when mildly hungry), brushing, breathing exercises (extending breath holding) and/or intermittent sunshine.  

Dietarily detoxification is boosted with fermented foods, bacteria and yeasts, pulsed doses of aspirin, some cooked food (AGEs and other heat-induced 'poisons'), intermittent fasting, dietary change, ketogenic, vegan (low in some 'essentials'), polyphenols in herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables, vinegar, beer, wine, dark chocolate, vanilla, a few lectins (microscopic irritants rich in whole grains and animals fed grains, or their milk or eggs).

All these mild stresses induce hormesis better when the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant.  Being hydrated, breathing through the nose and calm attitude puts the parasympathetic system in charge. 

A sample detoxification plan

Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?   

Start with a 3-5 day juice fast (fresh fruit and/or vegetable juices diluted with water).                Favor the tastes of sour and bitter over sweet.

• Use salt that has been dried over clay.
• Twice daily, take psyllium. This, and other fibers bind toxins and act as a laxative. The best way to detox is bowel movements, defecation accounts for 75% of detoxification.
• Eliminate alcohol, cigarettes, refined sugars and whole or refined grains.
• Drink lots of water.
• Eat high fiber organic fruits and vegetables.
• Take vitamin C, ubiquinol and lipoic acid - they help recycle glutathione.
• Use fermented vegetables and probiotics.
• Practice deep breathing for 10-20 minutes a day.
• Take a contrast shower: After taking a hot shower and feeling relaxed and warm, make the water cooler and then shiver in invigoratingly cold water for a minute. Then switch back to hot for the next 2-3 minutes. Repeat this cycle three times (or more), each time finishing cool (and alert).
• Use homeopathic drainage remedies.

REDOX - the chemistry and electricity of life, reactive oxygen species, oxidants and reductants (antioxidants) 

The basic unit of life is the cell, a mass of connected biomolecules, in watery solution, surrounded by a membrane.  A living cell controls the exchange of electrically charged ions across membranes (and therefore the electrical potential of its organelles or its interior, relative to the exterior).   Charged ions make up salts like sodium chloride. 

Electrons can move from one atom to another.  When electrons move between atoms, a current of electricity (and electromagnetic field) is created. The electrons move from one atom to another in a "flow." As one electron is attached, another electron is lost.

Biological electron transfer usually involves electrons hopping from one molecule to another.  However, bacteria have learned to make electric conductive pill.  These microbial nano-wires made of aromatic amino acids transfer electrons and are conductive.

The electricity used to power motors, make lights shine and run our computers relies on electrons (the fundamental sub-atomic particles which carry electrical charge).  Biological electricity is carried instead by larger, more complex charged molecules or atoms. 

While electricity in wires travels at light speed (around 186,000 miles per second), biologic electrical signals are carried at a far slower (but still rapid) half a mile per second.

Poisons target ion channels, too. The venom of the deadly black mamba blocks nerve ion channels.  These chemicals, mambalgins, stop a specific type of ion channel found in pain cells from opening. By doing so, they relieve pain as effectively as morphine, without its side effects. 

Ion channels are important in toxicology, controlling cardiac contraction and rhythm, nerve conduction, temperature sensing, insulin release, apoptosis, cellular pH and oxidative stress.  Ion channels are modulated by inflammatory mediators like cytokines, chemokines, histamine, leukotrienes, prostaglandins, ATP, reactive oxygen species (ROS) including NO as well as protons.

NO/NOx signaling system

The NO/NOx signaling system hormetically regulates inflammation.  NO is a gaseous free radical.  Low NO lessens inflammation by inhibiting cell adhesion, cytokine and chemokine production as well as leukocyte adhesion and migration.  The cells in inflamed tissues sometimes make much NO and superoxide.  

NO comes from many sources. There are three isoforms of NO synthase, which oxidizes the guanidine of the amino acid arginine, releasing NO.  NO is a by-product of combustion, as in engines, burning of fossil fuel and is produced during electrical discharges.  NO regulates growth, development and response to abiotic and biotic factors.  

NO was previously called endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) and is synthesized from L-arginine, oxygen and NADPH by various NOS enzymes.  

Low levels of NO protect from ischemic damage.  NO contributes to reperfusion injury when a lot is made during reperfusion (following ischemia).  NO reacts with superoxide to produce peroxynitrite (a damaging oxidant).  

In contrast, inhaled NO helps survival and recovery from paraquat poisoning, which produces lung tissue-damaging superoxide and hinders NOS metabolism.  NO is a gas available in concentrations of 100 ppm and 800 ppm. Overdosage with inhaled NO causes elevations in methhemoglobin and pulmonary toxicities.  Elevated NO may cause acute lung injury.  

Although inhaled NO has little effect on systemic vasculature, inhaled NO increases the partial pressure of arterial oxygen by dilating pulmonary vessels in better-ventilated areas of the lung, moving pulmonary blood flow away from lung parts with low ventilation/perfusion ratios toward parts with better ratios.

NO is also made by phagocytes. Phagocytes have inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which is activated by interferon (IFN-γ) as a single signal or by TNF with a second signal. On the other hand, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) provides a strong inhibitory signal to iNOS, where interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-10 provide weak inhibitory signals. 

NO is secreted as free radicals in an immune response and is toxic to bacteria and intracellular parasites, including Leishmania (protozoan parasites)and malaria (the anopheles mosquito infects the host with a one-cell parasite called plasmodium); the mechanism for this includes DNA damage and degradation of iron sulfur centers into iron ions and iron-nitrosyl compounds.

Heavy metal toxicity is one of the major abiotic stresses leading to damage and degree of toxicity is based on chemical and physical properties.  Heavy metal toxicity leads to uncontrolled accumulation of ROS which causes lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and inactivation of enzymes, DNA damage and/or interaction with other vital constituents. 

Exogenous NO (lots of 'fresh') alleviates heavy metal toxicity, but such NO mechanisms are not fully understood, and some results are contradictory.  NO alleviates the harmfulness of ROS, and reacts with other target molecules, and regulates expression of stress responsive genes. 

Each of the NOS isoforms (endothelial, neuronal and inducible) function distinctly.  The enzyme, xanthine oxidoreductase produces NO from nitrite.  Protein disulfide isomerase makes NO from S-nitrosothiols.  NO is produced by Nitrosomonas, skin commensals.

Small amounts of irritants threaten membranes.  This mild stress leads to metabolic and genetic adaptation (in which ion channels are important).  Ion channels change easily.  Ion channels are a target of “nonpolar narcotics,” or organic solvents, anesthetic agents as well as inert gases.

Modulation of ion channels by NO significantly alters function.  NO is in and synthesized from foods.  But the older metabolism becomes less efficient at making NO, even from high nitrate foods like chicken, fish, spinach, swiss chard, collard greens, beets and kale. 

NO synthase (NOS) enzymes have many mechanisms (protein interactions, lipid modifications and protein phosphorylation cascades) that control NO.  These mechanisms influence both the upstream signals that stimulate NO formation, and NO's downstream targets.

NO regulates trans-epithelial ion movement.  Alterations in NO generation and action seem important in lung disorders of hyper-secretion.

NO gas is a diffusible second messenger that modulates ion channels, intrinsic excitability and mediates synaptic plasticity.  NO is a messenger which cannot be stored and rapidly diffuses across cell membranes to act remotely (in contrast to the specificity of other neurotransmitters).  

NO is made broadly.  In the CNS, NO influences synaptic transmission and boosts learning and memory.  NO helps build muscles.  However, probably like other gasotransmitters (CO2, CO, H2S), NO is normally released in tiny quantities and is very labile.  Such gases tend to have opposite effects at different concentrations and are very difficult to study .

Bioelectricity

As electricity flashes in and out of our cell membranes, it generates currents of a few picoamperes  (about a hundred billionth of the current that makes a light bulb glow). Somehow, the ions carrying these currents have to find a way past the insulating outer fatty membrane that is the cell's sensory organ and brain, defining and confining its watery cytoplasm. 

An atom (with unbalanced charges) will become either positively or negatively charged, and the switch from one charge to the other allows electrons to flow from one atom to another. This flow of electrons is called electricity.  

Cells generate electrical charges via electrolytes (sodium and potassium) using the "sodium-potassium gate."  When your body needs to send a message, it opens the gate.

When the membrane gate opens, sodium and potassium ions move freely in and out of the cell.  Negatively charged potassium ions leave the cell, attracted to the positivity outside the membrane, and positively charged sodium ions enter, moving to the negative charge. 

The result is a switch in the concentrations of the two types of ions -- and rapid switch in charge.…this flip between positive and negative generates an electrical impulse. This impulse triggers the gate on the next cell to open, creating another charge, and so on. 

In this way, an electrical impulse moves (to enhance three-dimensional holographic wave-form soliton messaging).  

Collagen is our body's most abundant protein, about 75% of skin and 30% overall.  Collagen (the basic connective tissue building-block).  It is produced by fibroblasts and macrophages and creates tendon, muscle, bone, cartilage, cementum, dentin and enamel.  Collagen forms a flexible crystal that generates pulsating wave-form three-dimensional piezo-electrcal force fields. 

Schwann cells, but not axons, contribute to collagen deposition, which directs peripheral nerves. Collagens are extracellular proteins (probably organized by electromagnetic fields) with a triple helical structure and predominantly involved in the formation of fibrillar and microfibrillar networks of the extracellular matrix and basement membranes.

Defibrillators deliver an electric shock (to your heart) and may work to restore heart rhythm   Receiving the wrong type of shock, like an electric shock or lightening, can "fry" your electrical system. Or instead, one can actually harness the electrical charge of the Earth by grounding.

Changes in sodium channels underlie epilepsy (when an electrical storm erupts in the brain), migraine headaches, heart rhythm disturbances, paralysis, and some chronic pain syndromes.  More sodium channels (which allow sodium ions to pass) are found in “excitable” cell membranes like muscular, nerve or immune cells.  Genetic variety creates a graded amount of sodium channels and thus different 'normal' electric potentials.

Bioelectricity deals with cell membrane transport processes that control the formation and dissipation of ion gradients.  Bioelectricity creates a three-dimensional electromagnetic field that pulses in a wave form (and intersections create a hologram).   Ion gradients store energy in an electrochemical potential, which can be converted.  The ion gradient allows organisms to biosynthesize (photosynthesis and respiration), transport metabolites (absorption and secretion), mechanical work (bacterial flagella, swimming, crawling) and signaling (action potentials).  Action potentials are a form of information used by electrically excitable membranes to control the activity of cells (calcium signaling, muscle contractility) and/or to support or suppress communication between cells (release of chemical signaling molecules; hormones, neurotransmitters).

The specific ionic composition of the cytosol usually differs greatly from that of the surrounding fluid. In virtually all cells (including microbial, plant and animal), the cytosolic pH is kept near 7.2 and the cytosolic K+ is much higher than Na+. 

K+ is 20-40 times higher in cells than in blood, while Na+ is 8-12 times lower in cells than in blood.  Free Ca++ in cytosol is usually less than 0.2 micromolar.  Ca++ is sequestered by Mg-ATP pumps in the 'inactive' cell at a thousand times or more to be released from storage depots as its basic on/off switch.  Cytosolic Ca++ is also lower than blood (a thousand times or more). 

ATP - the chemical currency of energy

Usually with bipolar magnesium as a cofactor, ATP-driven ion pumps generate and maintain ionic gradients.  ATP is the chemical currency of energy.  ATP is controlled and channeled by our eukaryotic cells.  

However, ATP is largely created by cooperative and/or subjugated prokaryotic mitochondria that mysteriously comprise 6-12% of our eukaryotic cytoplasm.  There are more mitochondria during growth, development and intermittent mild stress, less as one matures and ages and/or perceives unrelenting stress.

Our cells require the breakdown of organic substances through mitochondrial respiration to generate energy.  ATP is produced via the electron transport chain.  Electrons travel down this path to be accepted by oxygen (or other electron acceptors).  Water provides the initial electrons. 

Hydrogen build up in the extracellular fluid creates a gradient.  Because of membrane potentials, when there an ionic gradient, molecules flow in the opposite direction.  Here, hydrogen flows back into the cell through a protein called ATP synthase (which catalyzes new ATP). 

Cooperative metabolic and genetic action allows larger life forms because the number of ATP created from each glucose increases dramatically in mitochondria.  Thus, created chemical disequilibrium and resultant membrane potentials allow bodily functions to take place. 

The cell is mostly perceived as a “bag of solutions.”  However, better vision discloses a huge network of filament tubes, fibers and trabeculae.  This network extends through the entire body. We are also now aware that all our cells are surrounded by structured water.  Water's liquid crystalline structure with dissolved minerals is also a charge carrier. 

This interlacing connective tissue together with water molecules is an energy and information network, transforming and transmitting electromagnetic energy in the regulation of our 50-70 trillion  cells, which hum at characteristic frequencies, continually sending out their three-dimensional electromagnetic information.

An electrical current moving through a wire creates a magnetic field.  Moving electrical charges are responsible for the magnetic field in permanent magnets as well. But a magnet's field doesn't come from a large current traveling through a wire -- it comes from the movement of electrons.

Electrons can be imagined as tiny particles that orbit an atom's nucleus the way planets orbit a sun.  However, the movement of electrons seems more complicated.  Electrons fill an atom's shell-like orbitals, where they behave like a cloud of particles and waves.  Electrons have a charge and mass, as well as a spin movement (upward or downward).

Generally, electrons fill the atom's orbitals in pairs. If one of the electrons in a pair spins upward, the other spins downward.  Both of the electrons in a pair don't spin in the same direction. 

Even though an atom's electrons don't move far, their movement creates a tiny magnetic field.  Since paired electrons spin oppositely, their magnetic fields cancel out.  However, ferromagnetic atoms have several unpaired electrons with the same spin.  Iron has four unpaired electrons with the same spin. 

Because they have no opposing fields to cancel their effects, these electrons have an orbital magnetic moment. The magnetic moment is a vector, with size and direction.  The moment is related to both the magnetic field strength and the torque exerted by the field.  An entire magnet's magnetic moments come from the moments of all of its atoms.

Electromagnetic fields guide the growth or healing of tissues.  All cells have an electric potential that comes from the difference between ions on either side of membranes.  Highly malleable cells, like stem cells (which grow into other cell types) as well as tumor cells (which exhibit uncontrolled growth) have low electric potentials, whereas mature and stable cells have high electric potentials.

Patterns of electrical activity is one way cells communicate.  Genetics and epigenetics remain important.  Growth, development or healing signals are all linked and interdependent.  Genetics determines the cell's channels, which determines the gradient.  And the bioelectric gradient can change gene expression.  How these multiple signals are interpreted remains unclear.

Much work on extracellular electrical signals is credible.  Chemical, physical and electrical gradients exist inside and outside cells, so these gradients must interact.  Cells simultaneously read and integrate responses to both chemical and electrical cues.

Implanted electrical conductors create an invisible field and attract 'different' biofilm 

In the REDOX reaction, two chemical reactions always occur at the same time: oxidation and reduction.  Oxidation and reduction was thought to require oxygen.  However, other elements act like oxygen.  The definition was revised to apply to all elements which exchange electron clouds.

When two elements react, they exchange electrons.  In a REDOX reaction, the oxidized element loses electrons. The element that is reduced gains electrons.

The outer layers of biofilm are populated by aerobic bacteria, and the inner layers (lacking in oxygen) by anaerobic bacteria. This co-existence creates electrical potential between the oxidizing aerobic and the anaerobic reducing bacteria, creating electrolysis.  Biofilm develops faster in plastic pipes than in metal pipes, as the biofilm finds nutrients in the organic content of the pipe.

Redox state is used widely to explain free radicals and oxidative stress.  The redox environment of biological fluids, cell organelles, cells, or tissue determines activities.  The reduction potential of various redox couples can be estimated and show how pH and the concentrations of the species comprising different redox couples influences our cells. 

Trafficking in electrons is how all living things breathe, but it is normally carried out by discrete proteins or other molecules that act like containers for shuttling electrons from one place to another.

The redox state of the oxidized glutathione disulfide and reduced glutathione couple (GSSG/2GSH)  is an important indicator of redox.  There are many redox couples in a cell that work together to maintain the redox environment; the GSSG/2GSH couple is the most abundant redox couple. 

Changes of the half-cell reduction potential (Ehc) of the GSSG/2GSH couple seem to correlate with the biological status of the cell: proliferation Ehc 􏰲 􏰁240 mV; differentiation Ehc 􏰲 􏰁200 mV; or apoptosis Ehc 􏰲 􏰁170 mV. 

These estimates are used to understand redox from oxidative stress. This provides a rationale for the cellular mechanisms linked with cell growth and development, signaling and reductive or oxidative stress.

Free radicals are highly reactive species that govern many fundamental chemical processes, most notably combustion and oxidation. The production of ROS and the induction of stress-induced antioxidants, are key in metal ion-induced hormesis.  Currently, hormesis is used as an “umbrella” term that includes many different mechanisms.

ROS are all over the place.  Yet, ROS often kill us in the end; over long lifespan, the continual damage by ROS, if not properly repaired (and repair efficiency tends to drop in the aged) contributes to the development of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and many other disorders.

When the body is electrically grounded to the earth, the direct current voltage of the earth creates an electron shield on the body's surface. This prevents environmental 50-60 Hz electric fields from creating electron disturbances that elevate free radicals and promote inflammation and pain. 

Grounding is not a "treatment" or a "cure."   One can avoid metallic implants and anything else that creates a confusing electrical field.  Bodies evolved in contact with the Earth and need to maintain this contact in order to function fully.  Like eating from Nature, exercising and sleeping, grounding is yet another lifestyle habit that supports health.

Being barefoot is one of the most powerful ways of grounding. You can simply remove shoes when over conductive surfaces to take advantage of grounding opportunities.

"The solution to pollution is dilution."  Almost any poison stimulates biologic adaptation and increased tolerance, especially if super diluted.  

Digestion masticates, mixes and chemically reduces food entering the stomach and then using enzymes and bacteria, oxidizes the resultant slurry in the small intestine.  The liver first oxidizes toxic chemicals with induced cytochrome enzymes (sometimes creating more dangerous oxidants) and then reduces them for excretion seven different ways (with glutathione being the most used).  

Cytochromes, oxidizing enzymes

Cytochromes P450, 3A (40%), 2C (25%) and 1A2 (18%) are the major liver oxidative enzymes, and there are many CYPs. 

Cytochromes in the small intestine provide the principal, initial source of transformation of ingested xenobiotics.  Oxidation can detoxify (and excretion is facilitated by reduction), or surprisingly, toxicity can be activated.  These oxidative enzymes (CYP450s) are mostly near the pyloric sphincter, and at decreasing amounts distally, being lowest in the ileum (where bacteria are most numerous).

Dietary factors affect intestinal cytochromes markedly.  Iron restriction rapidly decreases intestinal P450 to lower than detectable values; selenium deficiency acts similarly, but is less effective.

Brussels sprouts (and also other crucifers which contain sulforophanes) increase detoxification activity.  Fried meat and dietary fat significantly increases intestinal detoxification activity.  A diet low in vitamin A increases intestinal cytochromes, and a vitamin A-rich diet decreases CYP450s.  

Intestines absorb nutrients, and also metabolize toxins.  CYP enzymes catalyze most oxidation reactions. CYP3A is the major intestinal CYP (80%) followed by CYP2C9.  CYP1A is high in the duodenum, together with less CYP2C8-10 and CYP2D6. 

Cytochromes are not only induced by diet, but CYPs are individual and represent a genetic polymorphism.  Changes in toxicity are due to reduced metabolism, altered efficacy, increases in toxic metabolites and adverse interactions.  

The high metabolic capacity of the intestinal flora comes from its enormous ability to make enzymes, which catalyze reactions in oxidation and reduction.  Compromised intestinal barrier increases passive paracellular absorption. 

Much microbial change follows intestinal disturbances, aging, environment or food-linked ailments.  Microbial metabolism occurs before absorption.  Some bacteria benefit the intestinal ecosystem.  Probiotics aim to repair deficiencies in gut flora, so that the biofilm can establish a protective effect. CYPs change with diseases, toxins and nutritional status.

Toxicity's primary symptom is irritability and any imbalance provokes almost immediate changes in one's symbiotic biofilm.  Pathogenic biofilm increases host irritability and thus motivates our entire ecosystem to change. 

Superoxide, the most important reactive oxygen species (ROS)

In aerobic organisms, oxygen is converted to water by the respiratory chain in mitochondria. Mitochondria are the "power plants" in our cells that provide energy.  However, in this same mitochondrial respiratory chain, oxygen is "partially reduced" to form superoxide.  Superoxide is a radical species with an unpaired electron.  Radicals usually are very reactive (and thus very difficult to measure).  Electrons seem to like to pair up to form stable two-electron bonds.  Because of its radical nature, superoxide is also a reactive oxygen species (ROS).   Three forms of an enzyme, superoxide dismutase (SODs) catalyze the dismutation of superoxide radicals (O2·- + O2·- + 2H+ → O2 + H2O2).  SODs out-compete damaging reactions of superoxide, thus protecting from superoxide toxicity.  Green tea catechins upregulate superoxide dismutase and catalase (as do other hormosis inducers).  The antioxidant enzymes produced within our bodies are complex proteins that often use minerals like selenium or zinc. These antioxidant enzymes are our most potent defense against free radicals (and ensuing inflammation).  They include glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and likely the most important of all: SOD, facilitating reactions that make toxins less harmful. The production of superoxide by the mitochondrial respiratory chain occurs continuously during normal aerobic metabolism.  Perhaps 1-2% of all the electrons channeled by mitochondrial membranes never make it to the end, but instead form superoxide. Besides the mitochondrial respiratory chain, there are other sources of superoxide.  Particularly, when phagocytes encounter microorganisms, they generate large amounts of ROS. Under normal metabolic conditions, each cell in our body is exposed to about 1010 molecules of superoxide daily.  For a person weighing 150 pounds, this is about 4 pounds of superoxide per year, a significant amount! Once formed, superoxide is converted to other ROS.  In the presence of small amounts of iron, copper or manganese (these metals are usually tethered by enzymes), hydroxyl radicals are formed.  Hydroxyl ions are extremely reactive.  Excess iron (copper or manganese) is linked to uncontrolled inflammation (heart and artery disease as well as cancer).  These metals convert superoxide to hydroxyl ions, causing much oxidative damage.

Part of the much more efficient aerobic metabolism is the mitochondrial production of ROS.  ROS create (and are more active in) alkalosis.  

Oxygen acts as a "double edged sword."  ROS are the universal metabolic message of stress.   Intermittent mild stress is necessary for development, growth, metabolic efficiency and repair.  Continuous stress (over one's threshold) leads to hibernation, apoptosis or necrosis.  

Ca(++), pH and ROS are key cellular regulators

Changes in the levels of Ca(++), pH and ROS are key cellular regulators.  How ROS increase endothelial permeability remains unclear.  Certain levels of ROS generated by electrical fields mediate Ca(++) release from intracellular stores and activate cell cycle activity.

The amount of stress is critical.  Too little ROS stress, and we do not develop; a certain amount of intermittent ROS stress causes us to thrive; while excessively continuous ROS stress induces hibernation or apoptosis while even higher levels of oxidation cause necrosis.   

ROS generation is directly linked with part of the membrane surface when it is electrically restructured.  This electroinduced cell process is activated by Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions and by exogenous adenosine 5‘-triphosphate. 

In a metal-ion-catalyzed reaction, the effector molecules are the chelator EDTA and the hydroxyl radical scavenger dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).  The modulation of ROS electro-induction and the use of antioxidants (DMSO, sodium ascorbate) showed that cell survival after electric treatment was correlated to the oxidative jump intensity.

Exercise (which creates both general and targeted ROS stress), sunshine (which provides classic ROS stress) and irritants hidden in the herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables that we eat produce or induce ROS (while they also tend to be coupled with antioxidants).  

ROS have dual (harmful as well as essential) biologic roles.  

Very low levels of ROS signal adaptive hormesis, changing metabolic set points and gene expression of antioxidant enzyme systems, increasing our very ability to cope with whatever triggers oxidative stress.  Very much higher levels of ROS signal hibernation or organized cell death via apoptosis.  Even higher levels of ROS cause explosive cell death via necrosis.

Levels of mitochondrial ROS are carefully regulated.  Various cell stimuli, including immune receptor binding, cytokine stimulation and hypoxia increase mitochondrial ROS.  Increased cytosolic Ca++ and activation of PI3K also lead to more mitochondrial ROS. 

Antioxidant protein expression (through Sirt3 and FOXO activation), decreases mitochondrial ROS.  Similarly, mitophagy through activation of BNIP3 or NIX decrease ROS by decreasing overall quantity of mitochondria (as well as damaged mitochondria).  Also, mitochondrial membrane potential correlates with ROS production.

The dual function of ROS to both promote cell damage and induce cell adaptation makes ROS a difficult therapeutic target. In other words, inhibition of ROS by antioxidants does not have a predictable outcome on cell function since the message of ROS changes under differing environmental conditions.

A balance between oxidant (alkaline) and antioxidant intracellular enzyme systems like glutathione or superoxide dismutase (acidic) is vital to shuttle energy and for cell function, regulation as well as adaptation to diverse conditions.

The important glutathione couple (2GSH/GSSG) - the primary redox buffer

Glutathione is a ubiquitous thiol-containing tripeptide, which plays a central and buffering role.  Glutathione dominates in cellular defense against xenobiotics and naturally occurring deleterious compounds, like free radicals and hydroperoxides.  

Glutathione is critical, it recycles antioxidants.  Dealing with free radicals is like handling a hot potato. ROS get passed around from vitamin C to vitamin E to lipoic acid and then finally to glutathione which cools off ROS and recycles other antioxidants. Then another protective glutathione molecule can be recycled or reduced.

Redox (oxidation-reduction) reactions have many similarities to acid-base reactions.  Basically, redox reactions record the transfer of electrons.  Like acid-base reactions, redox reactions are a matched set -- oxidation occurs at the same time as reduction. 

Glutathione status is a highly sensitive indicator of cell functionality and viability.  Tissue levels range from 0.1 to 10 mM, being highest in liver and spleen, kidney, lens, erythrocytes and leukocytes.  GSH depletion is linked to many pathological states.

The epithelium of the small intestine contains about half as much glutathione as the liver,  Unlike the liver, however, the glutathione of the gut mucosa is not regulated diurnally, suggesting that the liver provides glutathione (or its precursors) to maintain intestinal glutathione.

Glutathione's most active form uses selenium.  Well-known functions of selenium (and we only need about a half milligram daily or less):

1. Selenium is required to produce thyroid hormone.  It is also needed for the conversion of T4 to the more active form of the hormone triiodothyronine (T3).  This function is often sub-optimal.

If the body cannot convert T4 to T3, then thyroid hormone activity diminishes significantly, even if enough T4 is made.  Doctors usually measure this and prescribe hormone replacement of T3 (if low).  However, selenium will often correct this, without the need for hormones.

Selenium also counteracts the eye protrusion of Grave’s disease, characterized by outward movement of the eyeball.  This 'bug-eyed' appearance is in response to inflammation of the muscles and structures behind and around the eyeball.  Selenium (along with zinc, selenium is anti-viral' and anti-inflammatory) helps resolve "autoimmune" thyroiditis. 

2. Glutathione is a recyclable enzyme system made all over the body that is critical for detoxification.  Glutathione production depends on availability of several amino acids, along with available magnesium, iron and selenium.  This forms the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, a step in glutathione production and metabolism.

When glutathione production is low, detoxification is seriously impaired.  The body is less able to eliminate all toxic metals, many toxic chemicals and other substances like biological poisons. 

3. Heavy metal detoxification primarily has to do with glutathione production, although thyroid activity and other functions relate to selenium.  Garlic (and other selenium sources) are important.

4. Infection-fighting ability is boosted.  Selenium usually enhances the immune response.  This has to do with thyroid hormone, enzymes, and less virulence of biofilm.

             

5. Dr. Emanuel Revici and many others have used selenium products to help reverse cancer very non-toxicallly.  Selenium reduces toxic metals and pathogenic biofilm that leads to immune dysfunction.

6. Selenium and silicon share peaceful characteristics.  These minerals help impart a silky, smooth personality.  Selenium and silicon are quiet irritability so that we can have peace.  These minerals along with the magnesium and the overall nutritional balance in greens, help boost feelings of joy and happiness, and also provide a psychological lightness.

Irritability reflects exhausted buffers (that's why vinegar or bicarbonates are so effective)

A buffer solution resists pH changes when acids or bases are added.  We tend not to be irritable unless buffers are exhausted.  Water itself is a buffer.

One's protective and symbiotic biofilm turned pathogenic is most likely to create symptoms.  Living tissues have many buffers, including our biofilm and the colloid of our cytoplasm.  Most buffer solutions consist of a weak acid and its conjugate base (salt of the weak acid).  

The carbonic-acid/bicarbonate buffer is major in regulating pH.  Other buffers are less important.  Breathing efficiency through the nose (which is enhanced by practice and calm attitude) is most important.  

The phosphate buffer is phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) in equilibrium with dihydrogen phosphate ion (H₂PO₄^-) and hydrogen ion (H⁺⁾.  The pK for the phosphate buffer is 6.8; so the phosphate buffer functions within its optimal range at physiological pH.  

Hemoglobin also is a pH buffer.  Hemoglobin protein can reversibly bind either H⁺ or O₂ to heme iron.  When one is bound, the other is released.  During exercise, hemoglobin helps control pH by binding some of the excess protons generated by muscles.  Molecular oxygen is released for use at the same time.

Sulfur (thiol) has a similar outer electron cloud to oxygen and provides a heavier metabolic equivalent to gaseous oxygen.  Thioredoxin reductase with thioredoxin is a ubiquitous system that works with the oxidized or reduced forms of the glutathione couple to regulate redox. 

In mammals, extracellular forms of thioredoxin also have cytokine-like effects.  Thioredoxin has a highly reactive active site selenocysteine residue resulting in a profound reductive (acidic) capacity, reducing several substrates besides thioredoxin. 

Due to the reactivity of thioredoxin reductase, the enzyme is inhibited by many electrophilic compounds including fluoride, nitrosoureas, aurothioglucose, platinum compounds and retinoic acid derivatives. 

Thioredoxin reductase and thioredoxin control cellular thiol redox balance and antioxidant defense.  The thiol redox status of intracellular and extracellular compartments determines protein structure, regulation of enzyme activity and control of transcription factor activity. 

Thiol antioxidants act as (1) parts of the thiol/disulfide redox buffer, (2) metal chelators, (3) radical quenchers, (4) substrates for specific redox reactions (GSH), and (5) specific reductants of individual protein disulfate bonds (thioredoxin).  The composition and redox status of available thiols is highly variable and helps determine the metabolic activity of each compartment. 

It is generally beneficial to increase the availability of antioxidants under conditions of oxidant stress.  Cells have many mechanisms to promote increased intracellular levels of thiols like GSH and thioredoxin in response to many stresses. 

Increased GSH (and other thiols) is linked with more tolerance to oxidant stresses and with disease prevention or treatment.  Many thiols promote balance, like GSH  (cysteine and NAC), dithiols like lipoic acid (reduced to its thiol form) and "prothiols" (enzymatically converted to free thiols). 

In choosing a thiol (e.g., protection of lung from oxidant exposure or protection of organs from ischemia reperfusion injury), other effects must also be considered.  Large increases of free thiols  can create toxic effects. 

These toxic effects may be the result of thiol radical-mediated reactions but are also due to destabilizing effects of increases in thiol/disulfide ratios, which is normally more oxidized. 

Changes in the thiol redox gradient affects pH and can affect transport or cell signaling, which depends on forming and breaking of disulfide bonds in membrane proteins.  Even more efficient antioxidants than ascorbates, glutathiones are our primary genetically-produced reducing enzyme systems (and acidic generating buffer).

However, different buffers can greatly affect the ability of thiols to promote iron-dependent oxidations.  Buffers can act as metal ligands and can control reactions necessary for DNA oxidation by ferric iron and thiols, such as iron reduction.

Breathing, regulated breathing or breath holding produces almost instant messaging via changes in ROS.  ROS stresses cause buffering capacity to become unregulated and antioxidant enzyme expression to be epigenetically increased.  Either too much or too little oxygen causes tissues to make ROS.

Diluted toxins induce hormesis, creating metabolic and epigenetic adaptation

Not eating (or eating incompletely) may be as important as what we eat foundationally. Intermittent mild ROS stress induces the biologic response of strengthening hormesis (hunger, not starvation).   

Because of hormesis, nothing that we can sense can then be categorized simply as purely good or purely bad; response depends on perception, vigor, timing and conditioning as well as amount (or dilution).

Ingesting no food stresses us and our digestive biofilm, triggering formation of more adaptable cells in both (via hormesis).  Humans seem fittest if they eat many different things from Nature, don't eat regularly during darkness and if they occasionally don't eat during the day (or longer).

All cells (including the cells of our biofilm) are programmed so that intermittent mild ROS stress develops stronger life forms through metabolic and genetic change.  This cellular strengthening, metabolic improvement in efficiency and hardening includes epigenetic change and is called hormesis.   

On the other hand, pampering or 'continually meeting every perceived need' increases host insulin and leptin (to which we eventually become resistant) as well as storage of fat and toxins.  Continued plenty paradoxically shortens health span while it hardens the attitude and softens and fattens both biofilm and us.

Many traditions teach not to eat to fullness, but to quit eating before the stomach is full (or stretched with food). Not eating to fullness keeps the brain alert.

The body makes fewer new cells (to fuel cellular immunity or repair) without adequate protein (which needs to be only about 10%).  When we replace protein with sugar, immunity attempts to compensate by becoming more sensitive or allergic (similar inflammatory chemistry that would have been confined in the cell is now released in the whole body).

Dental therapeutic potential poisons

Although beneficial in very tiny amounts, these poisons are sometimes used in excess (radiation, mercury and other metals, fluoride, eugenol, triclosan, BPA).  Small amounts of these 'toxins' can be seen as beneficial or harmful, depending on many factors including viewpoint, growth stage, vigor, other poisons, conditioning and accumulated dose.  

Occupational exposure probably accounts for most heavy metal poisonings and smelting commonly brings on symptoms.  Miraculous mercury has been accumulated by the rich (and their servants) and used by healers and doctors as well as alchemists for generations.

Schools teach with many (often repeated) X-rays and most students continue taking excessive amounts of X-rays their entire career.  A dental examination in which radiographic exposure is part of the "fishing expedition" might be limited to 2-4 bite wings or periapical computer-aided dental radiographs.  Few computer-aided dental X-rays provide about the same amount of hormetically beneficial stress as background radiation or a chest X-ray (or two).  

If a female is pregnant, she usually demands a protective apron (if not done routinely); although surprisingly, the fetus is generally hormetically stimulated by reasonable amounts of radiation to mother's face (in order to make an X-ray diagnosis).  

However, a CAT scan is composed of 1,000 times as much (or far more) radiation and mammograms cause breast cancer, especially if repeated.  From a holistic perspective, only one out of 2,000 women screened regularly for 10 years will benefit from screening due to early detection of breast cancer, while 10 healthy women will be misdiagnosed and treated unnecessarily.

Shilajits are an ancient Ayurvedic mineral supplement (if uncontaminated).  Shilajit has many trace minerals that are needed to kick out the radioactive isotopes in favor of essential minerals. 

This is how iodine supplementation helps. If your thyroid has all the iodine it needs, it tends not to absorb radioactive forms.  All other radioactive isotopes act similarly when they resemble what the body needs.   If there is a deficiency, there is more absorption of the harmful forms of similar minerals and metals.

Drug companies mostly concern us about cholesterol and plaque when there are many other issues for the heart and arteries.  For example, dental infections of teeth or gums are linked to heart and artery problems.  Parasites can move in the blood and create wandering mysterious symptoms.  The parasite problem is well understood by veterinary doctors but nearly always overlooked in conventional people medicine.

Metals induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that initiate oxidative stress, an important mechanism of cell injury.  The brain is very sensitive to oxidation because of its unsaturated fats and high rate of metabolism. 

Rhythm makes us vulnerable to everything from formal radiological examinations to wifi, Smart Meters, cell phone towers and various kinds of radiation; everything from electromagnetic pollution to serious ionizing radiation from Chernobyl and Fukushima (death rates have already increased dramatically in the US, where there is the most rainfall, since the nuclear disaster in Japan).

Amalgam - a killer

Amalgam fillings are made of a mixture of metals. The ingredients include roughly equal parts of liquid elemental mercury (43-54%), and an alloy powder (46-57%) mainly silver (65% or more), tin (up to 29%), copper (8-13%) and zinc (up to 2%).  

Silver imparts strength, durability, and color, gives the alloy desirable setting expansion, decreases flow, and accelerates the setting time. Tin makes the amalgam easier to work, controls excessive setting expansion, and increases both flow and setting time.  Copper increases hardness, contributes to setting expansion, reduces flow, and decreases setting time. Zinc increases workability, and unites with oxygen and other "impurities" to produce a clean amalgam.  

Mercury, silver and copper are strongly antimicrobial.  Mercury is invisibly and amazingly toxic to all life forms in many ways at incredibly low doses.  

Digestive problems start for many in their mouth as chewing releases salivary enzymes, as it also stimulates the release of mercury from fillings.  Mercury mixes with food and travels down the GI tract. In the stomach this mercury combines with hydrochloric acid and produces mercuric chloride, which can damage the stomach lining and create ulcers. 

Not only that, but once this mercury comes into contact with friendly bacteria, it can kill them instantly.  Killing does not harm the mercury and it continues to destroy other friendly bacteria.  This leads to imbalanced gut flora which creates many conditions and symptoms, most notably Candida albicans and other parasites.

Mercury, lead, arsenic and other heavy bipolar cations

Historically, accumulation of mercury (and its invisible, but very toxic vapor) could only be afforded by the very rich (and their servants).  Since soft metals are easy to work, there is already too much mercury and lead toxicity historically hidden in our surroundings.  

Arsenical insecticides have been used in agriculture for centuries, and they silently contaminate todays' soils.  Lead arsenate was first prepared as an insecticide in 1892 for use against gypsy moth and recommended by authorities in the USA. Initially, lead arsenate was prepared by farmers at home. Over time, it was refined and marketed as lead arsenate [Pb5OH(AsO4)3] for use until the late 1950s. 

 Mercury has a high affinity for sulfhydryl groups, inactivating numerous enzymatic reactions, amino acids, and sulfur-containing antioxidants (N-acetyl-L-cysteine, alpha-lipoic acid, L-glutathione), with subsequent decreased oxidant defense and increased oxidative stress. 

Mercury binds to metallothionein and substitutes for zinc, copper, and other trace metals, reducing the effectiveness of metalloenzymes. Mercury induces mitochondrial dysfunction with reduction in adenosine triphosphate, depletion of glutathione, and increased lipid peroxidation. Increased oxidative stress and reduced oxidative defense are common. 

Selenium and fish containing omega-3 fatty acids antagonize heavy metal toxicity. The overall vascular effects of mercury include increased oxidative stress and inflammation, reduced oxidative defense, thrombosis, vascular smooth muscle dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction, dyslipidemia, and immune and mitochondrial dysfunction. 

Heavy metal toxicity causes hypertension, heart disease, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, reduced heart rate variability, increased carotid intima-media thickness and carotid artery obstruction, cerebrovascular accident, generalized atherosclerosis, and renal dysfunction, insufficiency and proteinuria.  Patients with congestive heart failure (idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy) have vastly elevated mercury in their heart tissue.

Mercury inactivates catecholaminei-0-methyl transferase, which increases serum and urinary epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine. This effect will increase blood pressure and may be a clinical clue to heavy metal toxicity.

Older pewter can contain over 20% lead.  Lead is not like cyanide.  Heavy metals don't usually kill you right away. Sometimes it takes years to develop symptoms and slow damage has likely already been done (besides the organs, relationships are hurt due to resultant irritability). 

Mercury is one of several heavy metals (alongside arsenic, cadmium, lead and titanium) that can effectively “shut down” our health. This occurs mainly through disruption of  trans-sulfuration. 

Trans-sulfuration involves sulfur, a mineral present in all proteins.  Mercury can bind with sulfur in proteins anywhere.  Mercury has the 'keys to the kingdom.'  And mercury has a strong affinity for thiols, which are organic compounds containing sulfhydryls - univalent radicals with sulfur and hydrogen. 

Because of mercury's affinity for sulfur, thiols are also used for chelation. (As difficult as dredging out toxic sludge from a lake bed). Mercury is very strongly attracted to: cysteine, cystine, methionine and taurine.  Mercury binding forms mercaptides, and depletes these amino acids (used for providing glutathione or tissue building).

Small amounts of mercury may alter membrane permeability and increase cell volume without loss of cell viability. This seems to involve mercury interaction with membrane thiols, possibly related to solute transport.  Mercury may promote the uptake of other toxic metals from mixtures by increasing cell volume and thus cell capacity. 

Vaccine adjuvants

Vaccines present a particularly problematic source of toxic metal exposure. Aluminum is the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant and is considered "safe" even though research shows it may induce serious immunological disorders and neurological complications in humans.

Aluminum in vaccines may be even more dangerous than mercury. The number of aluminum-containing vaccines children receive today has quadrupled over the past 30 years. In the 1970s, children got only four aluminum-containing vaccines in their first 18 months, but now they typically receive 17. 

As aluminum burden has increased, so have neurological disorders. In one school, 90% of the children developed ADHD during a single school year, and their toxicity profiles all revealed massive amounts of aluminum.

Aluminum has been increasingly replacing mercury as an adjuvant in vaccines since thimerisol fell out of favor. If you go by the aluminum content on vaccine labels, the amount kids are getting is excessive, but if you add in the aluminum not listed on the labels (accidental exposure due to contamination) it's a much more serious problem. One study found 5-6X aluminum in vaccines than what was actually listed. 

The signs and symptoms of aluminum toxicity are similar to autism, ADHD, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases. Vaccine adjuvants can cause serious chronic brain inflammation. 

Aluminum targets cerebellum and autonomic nervous system—the part responsible for biological processes over which you have no conscious control (breathing, blood pressure, balance and coordination). 

Along with lead and mercury, when you look at the MSDS sheet for aluminum, you will see symptoms very much likethose in common neurological diseases, including memory problems, speech impairments and aphasia, dementia, depression, muscle weakness, motor disturbances, and other neurological difficulties. 

Mercury ions can activate enzyme reactions, inhibiting inhibitors.  Cadmium inhibits biological processes in specific enzymes.  Among 60 Polish metallurgy workers and smelters, mostly because of lead, electrocardiograms showed that 27 had various pathologies.

Metal poisoning tends to work slowly.  Lead is hard to remove so it remains in the environment or your body for a long time. If you are ingesting lead in small amounts, then your lead and mercury tend to recycle and increase until you express symptomatic heavy metal poisoning. 

Documents dislodged from the centers for disease control (CDC) through a Freedom of Information Act revealed data linking thimerosal  (50% ethyl mercury) in 'sacrosanct' vaccines to autism, non-organic sleep disorders as well as speech problems.  

After polio vaccines, some kids experience paralysis of one or more arms or legs suddenly and the severity usually peaks within two days.  Some children had a respiratory illness before the neurologic symptoms began (polio is a respiratory virus that incites various degrees of autoimmune nerve damage).  All of the children were previously vaccinated against polio. 

Cases did not include kids with Guillain-Barre, another neurological syndrome linked to flu shots and vaccinations. Other countries are also seeing increases in the new "non-polio" illness.  Some argue that these neurological conditions are actually just different kinds of polio which were given separate labels so that victory can be claimed over this virus.

Signs of mercury toxicity in the musculoskeletal system include tender muscles, rapid muscle fatigue, joint stiffness, muscle cramps, muscle weakness and TMJ dysfunction. Toxicity is typically mislabeled as arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  

Mercury is lipophilic (it concentrates in fat).  The brain is made up of mostly fat.  Any mercury poisoning will negatively affect brain function.  Brain-related symptoms from mercury include late  walking and talking, as well as poor memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills. This is often labeled as poor balance, dementia, autism, ADHD, Parkinson's, depression, migraines or even more creatively.  

Lead can give rise to aggressive and delinquent behavior, as well as learning disabilities and lower IQ.  When leaded gasoline was phased out in the 1970s, an interesting phenomena occurred: the crime rate substantially and consistently dropped. 

Blood lead below 10 mcg/dL (micrograms per deciliter) seemed safe.  However, children with blood lead of 5-9 mcg/dL scored 4.5 points lower on reading than others who had 5 mcg/dL or less.  Now it is thought that there is no safe blood lead level (for kids).  Lead is in dust that comes from old paint or the vinyl used in about 1/3 of lunch boxes.

Lead is a proven pollutant and mercury significantly magnifies its toxicity (perhaps 100X).  Mercury is present around the world, with burning fossil fuel (for cooking, getting rid of garbage or our energy addiction) and nonferrous metal production being major sources.  Any fire releases mercury.  Mercury (or other toxicities) are commonly added to vaccines.  Mercury is routinely implanted by mislead dentists via dental amalgams.  Mercury comes with water and air.

Rats had single peritoneal injections of mercuric chloride.  Mercury induced biochemical changes, showing damage. The mercury caused oxidative stress, including increased lipid peroxidation, abnormal glutathione levels and destructive catalase in liver, kidney and brain.

When the rats had oral curcurmin of 80 mg for three days, the mercury-induced serum biochemical changes reversed, as the liver and kidneys began to repair.  Mercury induces metallothionein mRNA, but with curcurmin first, less is produced.  Curcurmin (along with many herbs and spices) induces hormesis and protects RNA.  When curcurmin was given for three days, mercury in tissues is reduced or eliminated.

Mercury has an uncanny ability to bind to precious metals, and since time immemorial, people have used it to mine gold and silver.  Although it is against the law, and the vapors of this liquid metal are incredibly and invisibly toxic, small-scale mining (which makes use of mercury in this way) is a leading source of mercury pollution.

Mining releases mercury into the air when it is burned off to isolate gold from a chunk of rock or slurry; mercury also seeps into the soil and rivers from water used in the process and runoff from rainwater, contaminated by materials from mining.  Most of these miners operate illegally, making the practice difficult to stop.  

Mercury accumulates in the poles and makes traditional food poisonous.  Arctic sea ice reacts with the sun to draw in mercury and other toxins from the air.   When Arctic sea ice cracks apart, relatively warm ocean water meets frigid polar air, causing turbulence.  This mixes up the layered  atmosphere, which would otherwise prevent the sunlight-triggered chemistry from reaching mercury higher in the sky.  

After sunlight interacts with atmospheric mercury, vast amounts of mercury captured from the residues of burning fossil fuels for cooking, from forest fires, energy, gold mining and metal manufacturing end up being deposited directly into Arctic sea water. 

This invisible amount can range in the hundreds of tons.  "When the leads open, there is a very quick increase in mercury.  Mercury jumps from essentially zero to global levels within a couple of hours.  Global background levels of mercury fluctuate. ranging from 1.3-1.5 nanograms per cubic meter of air.

Heavy metals stick around for centuries, and are re-emitted from soil and water into the air, and vice versa.  As a liquid metal, mercury evaporates at relatively low temperatures, and then its vapors (like humidity) are deposited out of the air back to the soil and water. 

Much mercury is a byproduct of burning coal, but most mercury that arrives in the ocean (after raining out of the air or being washed there by rivers) is “legacy” mercury that was already present, much of it spewed from smokestacks or leeched from gold mines long ago. 

Wildfires emit about 1.5-2.5 million tons of particulate matter. This is more than fuel combustion, industrial processes and transportation. This smoke is dangerous for everyone, but is particularly hazardous to children and the elderly.  There are several harmful substances released through burning, but mercury is the worst.  Fires in the USA release about 44 metric tons of mercury into the air every year.  Burned foliage and ground litter release 94-99% of all mercury stored. 

Deeper water fish, like tuna (and other animals high on the food chain), are affected by mercury more than shallow water fish.  Sunlight on salt water creates a biochemical process that neutralizes much of the mercury. But as the mercury drifts downward, bacteria convert mercury into its monomethyl form, which collects in animal tissue and is even more toxic. 

Most grains, grasses, fruits and vegetables efficiently bind with mercury.  Mercury in fish can be bound by consuming fresh fruit, bread, high-fiber vegetables or even a fiber supplement with that meal.  By doing so, one vastly reduces absorption of the mercury from the fish (greater than 99% in some cases). Transference of mercury into fiber is accelerated by strong stomach acid.

Much of the amalgam mixture is locally bactericidal, but paradoxically breeds resistance and virulence when diluted in digestive fluids, by oral and gut microbiota, dispersed by sewage systems and then spread again into our environment along with an unknown load of other chemicals. 

Infamous for poisoning the kidneys and brain, mercury is a potent destroyer of healthy cellular function. Mercury compounds are readily absorbed through intact skin, inducing toxic effects.  Mercury compounds decimate melanosomes, kill microorganisms, remove blemishes and lighten skin.

Typically marketed as anti-aging treatments, that remove freckles, wrinkles and blemishes, mercury-containing formulas are often used against acne.  Mercury is often secret and plentiful in skin creams, and sometimes labeled as mercurous chloride, calomel, mercuric or mercurio.  

Mercury vapor from these creams can be inhaled or swallowed. Infants can receive a toxic dose if they touch parents who use these creams. A child tends to put hands and fingers into their mouth, and thus can ingest high amounts of mercury. 

Instead, Vitamin K cream help fade and clear bruises and spider veins, and it can help decrease post-surgical bruising when used about two weeks before surgery (and after).  Vitamin K cream also lightens dark circles under the eyes, calm red, irritated areas and help improve the appearance of broken capillaries, rosacea and any other reddened, irritated areas on the skin.

Copper, both necessary and toxic

Very common with metal retention is copper toxicity (besides water in old plumbing, everybody seems to be getting dietary copper).  Many popular foods like coffee, chocolate, avocado, soy, shellfish like shrimp and lobster, and certain beans and nuts (pecans) are high in copper.  Copper competes with zinc, which tends to be poorly absorbed. Phytate (present in staple foods like cereals, corn and rice) has a strong negative effect on zinc absorption.  Inositol hexaphosphates and pentaphosphates are the phytate forms that exert these negative effects, whereas the lower phosphates have little effect on zinc absorption.  The reduction of phytate by enzymes, precipitation, germination, fermentation or plant breeding markedly improves zinc absorption.  Iron can have a negative effect on zinc absorption, if given together in a pill, whereas no effect is observed when the same amounts are given in a meal. Cadmium, which is environmentally increasing, also inhibits zinc absorption.  Symptoms of high copper (excess) and/or low zinc (deficiency): skin problems (acne, psoriasis, slow healing, eczema), emotional instability, "spaciness," detached behavior, schizophrenia, PMS, reproductive problems, prostatitis, menstrual difficulties, depression and fatigue. Copper isn’t a problem with good liver, gall bladder and adrenal function. If adrenal function is strong, we just mobilize that copper and excrete it in the bile. Many can't get rid of the excess copper. Many have impaired liver function, congested gallbladder or adrenal fatigue.  With impaired adrenal function, copper builds up (liver, brain, joints and lungs) causing mental, liver and detoxification problems.  Copper toxicity increases inflammation (asthma and breathing problems, emphysema). Copper also builds up in joints (arthritis).  Chronic skin problems also indicate copper toxicity. Vegetarian diets are often high in copper. Since vegetarians don’t eat meat or eggs, they tend to not get enough glutathione precursors.  Zinc is an antagonist to copper.  Zinc balances copper and keeps it from building up.  With out eating meat and eggs, one tends to develop toxicities. Excess copper impairs energy pathways, so it is part of the very fatigue that tends to create copper retention, leading to a vicious cycle.  This cycle is self-reinforcing and very hard to break, even by adding zinc-rich foods. Copper is stimulating (activating neurotransmitters), like serotonin, norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine.  Excess copper causes manic states like bi-polar or paranoia.  'Copper head' creates very emotional, intense, often creative states. Such folks are prone to crash and burn because their overactive mind is supported by a very fatigued body. Copper toxicity often causes irritable bowel.  Copper is excreted via bile. With excess copper, anything that causes more metabolism will create a bile copper dump. If copper is toxic and we are under stress, irritable bowel may be triggered (excess copper moves through the bowels and irritating them).  Copper reduction was studied based on spirulina, phosphatases activities and some blood measures. The fish, C. mrigala, had toxic amounts of tissue copper. When 6% spirulina was added to the fish's diet, it maximized the elimination of copper in feces without completely depleting it.  Spirulina improved the fish's growth, healthy blood levels and phosphatases activities. The tendency of copper to build up in the body is like iron, which is another essential nutrient that is also a metal. They’re both highly electrical, very conductive metals that produce much free radical activity and are usually bound by special proteins (ceruloplasmin and metallothioine).  Copper-binding proteins are controlled by the adrenals, and they are made in the liver. If the adrenals are not functioning fully and the liver is impaired, possibly from copper buildup, these binding proteins are not made, so copper remains free. That makes copper a toxic and reactive free-radical generator capable of causing much damage. The body sequesters copper, so it will do less damage. Thus, while accumulating copper, one also shows copper deficiency. The copper is not usable, so one exhibits both deficiency and toxicity. When copper accumulates under stress, the adrenals are on line and ready to go. This is beneficial in the short-term.  It helps the body cope with stress, at least initially. We have many checks and balances of mineral levels and ratios.  If deficient in one mineral, another accumulates.  When sodium and potassium go down, calcium and magnesium rise.  When copper drops, iron increases.  If zinc rises, copper goes down. If iron rises, chromium goes up. There is a constant and complex dance.   Minerals are very specifically retained and released. When we retain copper, sodium rises.  Sodium is required to produce aldosterone, an adrenal cortex hormone that causes sodium retention and high blood pressure when made in excess.  An increase in aldosterone defense against stress.  High aldosterone is made during a fight-or-flight state, when you are trying to guard against a threat.  When aldosterone increases, one retains copper and releases calming magnesium.  Magnesium is used for sleep or to relieve muscle cramping.  When going into fight or flight, your body quickly drops magnesium.  Magnesium is first to go, because the body is trying to rev up. Increased aldosterone also causes a zinc, which allows retention of copper and sodium to go up. The increase in copper is stimulating, it gets you going.  But chronic unremitting stress never allows recovery, so the imbalance continues. Down time allows excretion of excess copper. Strong adrenals excrete toxins.  But with exhausted adrenals, just barely able to mount a stress response, one has excess stimulating copper.  It becomes very difficult to get to sleep and the mind races. You think, think, think, worry, worry, worry, and all of that compounds things. You are always worn out.  One wakes tired because a pathogenic biofilm (parasites) does not allow real rest. We also use up tryptophan with unrelenting stress (perceived or real).  Tryptophan makes serotonin.  Serotonin is used up by stress.  A protein-rich diet supports production of balancing serotonin.  These foods help make serotonin: banana, beets, bluefish, brown rice, Cornish hen, cottage cheese, duck, herbal teas, mackerel, pheasant, potatoes, salmon, sunflower seeds, Swiss cheese and turkey.   However, you can’t replace serotonin by eating when it is being used so quickly. The body is not designed to be constantly under stress.  We benefit from spending some time resting. Loss of zinc and magnesium, along with copper retention, temporarily serves the adrenals.  But when stress is unrelenting, adrenal function is compromised.  Adrenal activity requires zinc, which copper impairs. The result is metabolic dysfunction. Your body is aware that you are not up to challenges, not able to respond to stress fully.  You feel anxious or fearful about activities, because you know you are not up to it.  This is the beginning of the irritability that goes with pathogenic biofilm, parasites, copper or heavy metal toxicity. You know that you are exhausted. One tends to use stimulants.  You may panic or feel very nervous.  Exhaustion causes apathy and depression and reduces the desire to take on much. So you hide in your protective shell. Dopamine (adrenaline, noradrenaline, vasopressin, oxytocin, thyroid hormone and endorphins all reward and activate).  Tyrosine plus purpose seems the common source of motivation, power and energy.   Low dopamine leads to sugar and/or caffeine cravings, fatigue, pallor, diarrhea, lightheadedness, decreased libido, routine-task difficulty, decreased physical activity, low mood, obesity, addictions, sexual disorders, or Parkinson's.  A protein-rich diet (if parasite free) makes dopamine. With low buffers, initially, one tends to overreact. “Oh no! I have to go buy food. . . Oh no! I have to go to the bank.”  With toxicity, there is a constant urgency. If anything has to be done, it’s a big deal.  Irritability is a constantly over-reacting state. With imbalance, the body takes any metals and uses them: lead can substitute for calcium, cadmium very readily takes the place of zinc, aluminum substitutes for just about everything.  And we retain those metals; they get locked into the tissues, which would otherwise 'hold nutrients. Chelation tends to not help toxic metal buildup. Chelation only attaches to a metal in free form, available to be picked up and carried out (or redistributed).  If toxic metal is sequestered in tissues or at enzyme-binding site, chelators cannot get to it. The toxic metal cannot be removed since the tissues will not release it, while the chelator also binds to essential minerals.  We very strongly retain cadmium to support low sodium (cadmium pushes sodium up).  That is partly why high-cadmium tobacco and marijuana can be very addictive—they raise sodium so you feel more normal, as though the adrenals function fully.  Cadmium will not be released unless it no longer needs to support low sodium.   One must rebuild sodium's buffer and adrenal function (until the adrenals no longer need this crutch). Hair tissue analysis measures excretion of minerals.  Since hair is tissue, its mineral content reflects functions or toxicities at the metabolic level.  Blood tests are sometimes useful, but they often fail to reveal chronic conditions like toxicity and/or parasites.  The metabolism keeps blood as normal as possible, even at the expense of tissues.  Blood values are maintained in very narrow ranges or severe, even life-threatening conditions may result.   Hair tissue mineral analysis can reveal toxicities and/or the imbalances at the cellular level.

Accumulations of lead occur frequently around human settlements.  Although little is known about the synergy of heavy-metals, lead can magnify the lethal toxicity of mercury 100 times.  

Our biofilm buffers, absorbs and excretes toxicity, but the sentinel thyroid gland dysfunctions if toxic and/or infected.  Toxicity (typically accompanied by one or more viruses) confuses thyroid (and thus every cell) function.  Our symbiotic biofilm also changes to pathogenic (which in of itself causes irritability).  

To make matters even more confusing, symptoms are typically abated and the cluster of signs and symptoms is given an authoritative name by conventional experts, even though the cause remains unknown. 

Silver

Government responds to many perspectives.  The FDA protects big Pharma  by declaring that silver has no therapeutic value.  The EPA allows silver's widespread use as a germ killer in clothing, bedding, cosmetics, electric shavers, baby bottles and food containers.  Silver has been used as an antimicrobial for thousands of years—that’s why forks, spoons, and platters were traditionally made out of silver.

Silver kills all kinds of bacteria, attacking them in three distinct ways: Weakening the cell wall, thus causing the bacteria to collapse or burst; Interfering with the enzymes the bacteria need to metabolize nutrients, starving them; and disrupting the ability of bacteria to replicate.

This triple-pronged attack makes it unlikely that bacteria develop resistance to silver—although it cannot be completely ruled out. (Bacteria would have to mutate in all three ways.) For this reason, critics of using silver in clothes and similar products are right.

Because silver weakens the bacterial wall, it allows antibiotics to enter more easily. When silver is added, lower doses of antibiotics are needed to kill bacteria. Silver reverses antibiotic resistance in E. coli, making them more susceptible to tetracycline.  Mice also seem to be not harmed by silver.

Silver also has powerful therapeutic effects against yeast (thrush), pericoronitis (infection of the gums around the teeth), E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus.  

The FDA does not recognize colloidal silver (silver suspended in a liquid) as a safe and effective antibiotic and states there is no evidence to support its use.  Contrary to the FDA's claim, ionic colloidal silver is highly effective at killing bacteria (and colloidal silver has low human toxicity).

Is the use of colloidal silver safe? Almost anything can induce hormesis and care must be taken to avoid overdose. In general, one avoids using silver for everyday infections (like teenage acne), but instead reserves it for more serious infections.

The ancients used copper as a sterilization agent for wounds and drinking water.  Hippocrates used copper for leg ulcers.  Copper treated infected ears, purged the stomach of intestinal parasites and quelled lung diseases.  Pioneers put silver or copper coins in drinking water casks. Norovirus can not survive on any dry surface that has more than 60% copper (and copper also kills  various fungi and bacteria). 

More toxins with varying unknown effects

There are many chemicals in products used around the home and office, from floor to ceiling, softeners in plastics, non-stick coatings, preservatives in cosmetics to stain-resistance treatments. 

Few of these chemicals have been thoroughly tested, and the long-term health effects of their accumulated use are largely unknown (but frightening). More evidence links common dysfunctions like cancer, asthma, autism and reproductive problems to the chemicals in our homes, commute and places of work as well as food, water and air.

Triclosan is a bactericidal, added to many things (including mouthwashes and toothpastes) to boost sales.  Triclosan, like most killers, exerts mostly poisonous but also hormetic effects, where diluted doses paradoxically breed more virulent and pathogenic bacteria.  

Small amounts of antibiotics or arsenic are commonly added to animal feed because animals grow hormetically faster, even though the use of dilute poisons tends to breed more virulent and pathogenic bacteria. 

Fluorine

Fluorine is electrolytically the most active element.  Biologically, fluoride acts much like the oxidatively corrosive free radical, the hydroxyl ion.  The neurotoxicology of endemic fluorosis involves microglial making of ROS, but is still obscure.

Even at levels deemed “safe," fluoride still is a significant risk, contributing to brain, thyroid, behavioral and other problems.  Fluoride also induces oxidative stress, which antioxidants (like lycopene) may help lessen.

Fluorine does not poison independently, the other lighter halogens (chlorine and bromine) magnify fluoride's negative effect and together displace heavier essential iodine.  Instead, iodine topically and/or systemically is very effective used against microorganisms and their biofilms, whether the problem is tooth decay or stems form pathogenic digestive biofilm and/or parasites.

In the North American scientific experience, fluoride shows some hormetic benefits when added to public water at the rate of one part per million.  However, the fluoride actually used is instead a waste product which contains (and increases absorption of) other poisons like lead and arsenic.  

Fluoride (plus other halogens) accumulates and poisons some of us obviously, and the rest of us subtly.  One way fluoride hurts us is by displacing iodine, fouling thyroid activity.  It is difficult to find a toothpaste, mouthwash, dental filling material, non-stick lining of cookware or patented antibiotic that doesn't contain fluoride. 

Pregnant rats given fluoride produced hyperactive offspring.  Animals given fluoride after birth became apathetic, lethargic "couch potatoes."  Veterinarians know to put little bits of fluoride in the water of too-aggressive bulls and during WWII, prisoners of war had their water fluoridated.

Fluoroquinolones may be the deadliest antibiotics sold.  Besides nerve damage, they are linked with damage to the musculoskeletal system, eyes and kidneys. These antibiotics' potency has been boosted by fluoride.  Fluoride increases permeability, including the blood-brain barrier. This ability to penetrate potentates fluoride as a (neuro)toxin.

The problem is not simply fluoride; it is also calcium deposits (in joints and especially in the pineal) that are part of the response to toxins.  Pesticides, artificial ingredients, hormones, other contaminants enter into the blood stream and flow to the pineal gland. 

Our 'mind’s eye' receives a big blood supply. Any toxicity easily accumulates in the pineal.  For this crucial piece of brain, one of the most prevalent dangers is fluoride and other toxins, causing 'protective' calcification.  Calcification instead compromises pineal function, is called tartar on the teeth and is linked to joint arthritis.

Calcification occurs as an end-stage of inflammation. Switching to organic fruits, veggies and animal products will help to stop the flooding of messengers throughout the body; thus reducing immune responses like alkaline inflammation and calcification. 

Iodine assists in releasing fluoride via urine, and is essential for healthy thyroid function.  Enjoy dried seaweed, like kelp, navy beans, tuna and eggs. Kelp supplements are also available.

Boron is a mineral found in food.  Boron builds strong bones and muscles, promotes muscle coordination and healthy testosterone and enhances cognition.  Boron is also an effective fluoride remover. Boron is rich in raisins, dates, chick peas, red kidney beans, hazel nuts, walnuts, lentils and peanut butter.

Borax is the common supplement form of boron, but supplementation is controversial. Other foods that cleanse and nourish the pineal include coconut oil; greens like chlorella, blue-green algae, and wheatgrass; along with herbs and spices like cilantro, parsley, turmeric and cayenne. Many also use zeolite, which cages viruses, metals and toxins, as well as raw apple cider vinegar.

Chlorine/Bromine 

Chlorination and fluoridation both can trigger reactions with other contaminants in water and create new deadly compounds.  These and other water treatment chemicals exacerbate the toxic burden of tap water.  Chlorination and other treatment technologies remove some contaminants, but will react with others. Some compounds may appear to be removed but they may be transformed into something more toxic.

Although pathogens are killed, birth defects, cancer and fatigue are all linked to ordinary, chlorinated tap water.  Our exposure to trihalomethanes (like chloroform, a toxic solvent) and other byproducts of water chlorination is much higher than thought. Chlorine also reacts with water (in and out of the body) to form hydrochloric acid and hypochlorous acid.  Both are extremely poisonous. 

Chlorine mixed with ammonia creates soluble and aromatic poisonously potent chloramines.

The EPA calculates lifetime cancer risk assuming consumption of two liters per day of water.  However, cancer risk from chlorinated water may be 10-50 times higher.  Their reasoning is that the actual ingestion of drinking water is the only source of trihalomethanes.

We absorb much more chloroform from bathing, showering and doing laundry than from drinking chlorinated water.  Chloroform absorbed from a shower by inhalation and skin absorption is 1-6X. The cancer potential of inhaled chloroform is 20-75 times more than ingested chloroform. 

The danger of developing cancer from chlorinated drinking water is much greater than thought.  The quality of the air breathed (as in outdoor showers) becomes very important.

There are trace amounts of chloroform in treated (and untreated) water, along with food, soil and air. One is exposed to small amounts all the time.  Chloroform in drinking water during the 1970s and 1980s ranged from 0.022-0.068 ppm (it takes 1,500-30,000 ppm for sedation).  A commonly used laboratory solvent. It was used as an anesthetic, but was banned (due to its carcinogenicity). 

THMs are metabolized by cytochromes P-450 (CYP2E1).  Long-term retention of chloroform is in fat, with increasing levels in liver later.  After exposure, chloroform redistributes as it slowly builds up in fat. The beneficial effects of toxins occur at extremely low levels, and it is likely that many regulations currently operate on the harmful linear portion of the dose-response curve.

Mountain Dew (and other fruit-flavored carbonated drinks) uses brominated vegetable oil (a hormonal mimic) as an emulsifier. Mountain Dew also contains high fructose corn syrup, sodium benzoate, more than 55 mg of caffeine per 12 ounce can, and Yellow Dye #5 (tartrazine, banned in Norway, Austria and Germany).  

Although bromide is widely distributed in Nature, primary exposure in humans stems from bromide residues in foods because of their use as pesticides, like methylbromide and ethylene dibromide, for soil fumigation and for post-harvest treatment.

Even drinking water can be a source.  When water with bromide is ozononated, bromate ions are formed (powerful oxidizing agents).  Sodium bromate is also in permanent waves, hair and textile dyes.  Benzalkonium chloride or bromide is a common preservative.  Although solvent outgassing is smelly and dangerous in its own right, bromine and chlorine are potent toxicities in new cars (seats, armrests, door trim, shift knobs and other areas).

Bromated flour is “enriched” with potassium bromate (bread used to be a primary source of iodine).  Potassium bromate contributes to bromide overload.  Commercial baking companies claim it makes dough more elastic and better able to stand up to bread hooks.  However, Pepperidge Farm and others use unbromated flour.  Potassium bromate is in some toothpastes and mouthwashes (antiseptic and astringent).  However, it is linked with gum bleeding and inflammation.

Eugenol

Eugenol is chemically a napthoquinone with oxidative phenolic properties.  Eugenol has been used in dentistry since time immemorial.  

Eugenol is mostly derived from clove oil (although it is part of the essential oils of many tasty and/or useful plants like allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, wormwood, basil and bay leaf).  Eugenol is responsible for the aroma of cloves.  Eugenol mostly comes from cloves and provides the classic smell of dentists and dental offices.  

Full strength, eugenol is used as a disinfectant and can kill.  Science can demonstrate this harm, thus some fear eugenol.  However, when vaporous or diluted, eugenol is used for its anesthetic and antiseptic qualities.

Eugenol (or clove oil) is commonly mixed with zinc oxide powder to make an antiseptic cement that hardens in the mouth.  Eugenol, barely wetting (and then blotting) a single strand of iodoform gauze, is commonly used as an effective dressing in slow healing and painful surgery sites in the mouth.

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a pungent odor that is used as a disinfectant, a preservative and a precursor for various resins in construction products. Formaldehyde is highly toxic and a carcinogen. Even at relatively low levels (above 0.1 parts per million), some have reactions including watery eyes, nausea, difficulty breathing, burning in the eyes and throat, coughing and rashes.

An aqueous solution of formaldehyde can be useful as a disinfectant as it kills most bacteria  and fungi (including their spores). Formaldehyde solutions are applied topically in medicine to dry the skin, such as in the treatment of warts.  Many aquarists use formaldehyde for parasites.

Formaldehyde is used to inactivate bacterial products for toxoid vaccines (vaccines that use an inactive bacterial toxin to produce immunity). It is also used to kill unwanted viruses and bacteria that might contaminate the vaccine during production.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are also often treated using methenamine (a formaldehyde derivative), a method often chosen because it prevents overuse of antibiotics and the resultant development of bacterial resistance. 

In an acid environment methenamine is converted in the kidneys to formaldehyde, which then has an antibacterial effect in the urinary tract. This is not safe for long term use due to the carcinogenic effect of formaldehyde. Some topical creams, cosmetics and personal hygiene products also contain derivatives of formaldehyde as the active ingredients (that prevent growth).

Formaldehyde is common in building materials, cigarette smoke and unvented fuel-burning appliances. Pressed wood products with urea-formaldehyde resins such as particleboard, hardwood plywood paneling and medium-density fiberboard are all common sources of formaldehyde.  

Aspartane, the artificial sweetener, turns into wood alcohol (methanol) and formaldehyde in a hot can or in your body.  Aspartame is a phenylalanine source and thus decreases the availability of tryptophan which results in less serotonin.  Many use artificial sweeteners, because ads tell them that sugar is bad for their health. Sugar is toxic. But, artificial sweeteners are even more deadly.

Artificial sweeteners are marketed as diet products, but the concentrated sweet taste causes one to gain weight because they make us crave carbohydrates.

Science can detect harm from ROS and/or oxygen treatment, and that is one reason hydrogen peroxide or ozone use and hyperbaric oxygen therapy is shunned by conventional practitioners.  Holistic doctors understand that proper doses of ROS can induce hormesis and use non-patentable (less profitable) oxygen therapies as anti-pathogenic as well as healing tools.

Regular moderate exercise (which some regard as a poison) provides benefits, upregulating defense against oxidative stress in good balance between oxygen's opposing dual roles.  Sources of ROS in exercise are not only mitochondria but also enzymatic reactions catalyzed by NADPH oxidase and other oxidases. 

One can mimic the ROS aspect of exercise to promote the defense for health span by other means like temperature stress or moderate alcohol and fructose consumption that generally upregulates activity and production of enzymes that protect against oxidative stress.

In local uses, as in the treatment of infected wounds, ozone is mostly applied in the form of a transcutaneous O3 gas bath.  Ozonized water or olive oil can be applied as a spray or compress.  Diseases treated are infected wounds, circulatory disorders, geriatric conditions, macular degeneration, viral diseases, arthritis, cancer, antibiotic-resistant infections and AIDS.

                                                                   Solvents

Millions are exposed to solvents (chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, benzene and/or dry cleaning chemicals) daily. Health hazards of solvent exposure include toxicity to the nervous system, reproductive difficulty, liver and kidney damage, respiratory impairment, cancer (leukemias, lymphomas and multiple myeloma) and dermatitis. 

Solvents share many chemical, physical and biological properties that impair membranes.

Substances used for experimental exposures: hydrocarbons, esters, alcohols, ketones, ethers, glycoethers, halogenated hydrocarbons and carbon sulphide; the absorption route was inhalation.  Biphasic dose-response does not occur with solvents.

Hormonal mimics

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals act like our sex hormones (estrogen), thus interfering with normal function.  Developing children are at greatest risk for adverse effects.  The twelve most famous endocrine disruptors are: BPA, dioxin, Atrazine, phthalates, perchlorate, fire retardants, lead, mercury, arsenic, PFC’s, organophosphate pesticides and glycol ethers.

Besides irritability with its emotional exacerbation, effects of hormonal mimics can lead to obesity, infertility or reduced fertility, learning and memory difficulties, adult-onset diabetes or cardiovascular disease, as well as cognitive difficulties and early demise.  Steroid hormones (estradiol and progesterone) can stimulate the growth of some microbial species (Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus and E. coli). 

Bisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in plastics and lurking everywhere.  BPA can cause abnormalities in rodent livers.  Besides being a hormonal mimic at a billionth, BPA induces ROS in male rat livers and thus has hormetic effects, when diluted about a million times.  

BPA (or a plasticizer something like BPA) is in dental plastics, sealants and composites.  BPA also acts (depending on timing) as a more damaging hormonal mimic.  BPA is alarmingly found in all modern people (and their fetuses).  

BPA can be highly estrogenic.  BPA causes neurological damage and behavioral problems, particularly in young males.  BPA's estrogenic nature can disrupt endocrine timing as well as causing low testosterone and other hormonal imbalances.  BPA, acting as a hormonal mimic, can create a timing error in development at less than a billionth.

                                               

Tests found a 38 chemicals not on the labels in 17 name-brand fragrances (Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Bath & Body Works, Old Spice, Calvin Klein and more).  The average product contained 14 chemicals that were not on the label (along with another 15 that were listed).  

Fragrances commonly contain parabens, phthalates, and synthetic musks that may cause hormone disruption, reproductive problems, or possibly cancer.   The exact ingredients in synthetic fragrances are protected as “trade secrets” and therefore do not have to be disclosed on the label.

Derived from BPA and similarly toxic are brominated flame retardants (BFRs), which include polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).  PBDEs are also endocrine disrupiors and may also cause liver and thyroid toxicity.   Over the last 40 years, these chemicals have grown in popularity and are now commonly found in textiles, furniture, carpets, insulation and electronics.

Even minimal exposure at critical points in development can cause life-long difficulties in learning, motor skills, memory and hearing,  BFRRs also damage reproductive systems.  Because flame retardants are not chemically bound to products, they are likely to leach out. 

PBDEs accumulate in the food chain and do not readily break down in the environment. These chemicals (and they are frequently mandated) have become widespread pollutants and are now commonly found in dairy products, fish and meat.  

One can avoid stuff made of synthetic fibers (favorite chair or for perhaps even more exposure, mattress), and select less-flammable alternatives (wool, leather).  Labels sometimes state whether products contain flame retardants. Children’s pajamas made from synthetic fabrics are commonly treated (as stated on the label), but snug-fitting cotton pajamas are frequently untreated.

A widely used brominated flame retardant is tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA).  TBBPA led to the development of tumors in rodents.  TBBPA is used in circuit boards in computers, consumer electronics and mobile phones. It is also used by the automotive industry and the military.  TBBPA binds to (and inhibits) an enzyme that metabolizes estrogen, so estrogen rises.

While it’s patented as a flame retardant, the food industry found brominated vegetable oils are also useful as an emulsifier in soft drinks. It basically keeps fruit flavored chemicals from rising to the top of Mountain Dew, Squirt, and some flavors of Fresca and Poweraide. 

Besides fluoride itself, the FDA has repeatedly refused to look at long-term effects of endocrine disruptors, which can take decades to emerge. The synthetic estrogen DES, which is now banned, was once routinely given to pregnant women to help prevent morning sickness and miscarriage. The drug seemed to cause no harm at first, but was much later was determined to cause cancer.

The same seems true for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), an endocrine disruptor commonly used (and released from) non-stick cookware, microwaveable popcorn bags and carpet-cleaning solutions.  Lack of fertility is now common and a study in Environmental Health Perspectives found that prenatal exposure to PFOA triples risk that an unborn child will grow up obese. 

A wide range of perfluorinated compounds have been identified in tap water.  These byproducts of  industry, including making non-stick cookware and stain-resistant food packing and fabrics, was detected in most of the water samples, both treated and untreated.

PFOAs were similar in the untreated and treated drinking water.  Treatment techniques seem largely unsuccessful.  The only plant successful at removing PFOAs used activated carbon.

Besides 11 perfluorinated compounds, treated water commonly holds herbicide (metolachlor, applied to conventional corn, soy, cotton, safflower, potato and other crops), two solvents, caffeine, antibacterials, heavy metals  (strontium, linked to bone problems) and an antidepressant.  Water, however, can be sustaining if thanks for its use is expressed and felt first.

                                                                       Mold

Mold is very dangerous because it is viable and vegetative.  All mold needs to propagate is water (or even humidity).  When humidity is higher than 35-45%, it can contribute to the growth of mold, dust mites and fungus. Regardless of how allegedly harmless or lethal its mycotoxins, mold still eats tissue. It liquefies its meal enzymatically and this is sucked up through hyphal structures that digest the meal for the mold (because mold does not have a stomach).  Mold has much potential fiscal liability, so construction industry lobbyists have convinced government agencies to over-regulate and/or shut down laboratories that might prove 'mycoxins' as cause.  Government funding in mold research has dried up. In mold remediation, the emphasis is on a few known toxic molds. These are stachybotrys, aspergillus and penicillin, but there are many others and some do not make such nasty mycotoxins, but lot of damage. Mold does not have legs. It travels mainly opportunistically, meaning that air, air from the Sahara, air in fans, air conditioners and HVAC systems offer it opportunity to colonize.  Banging on or sawing moldy building materials also disseminates spores.  Most with mold exposures dried out the remediation area.  Some rent commercial vacuums with multiple filters, since less than 1% of the best trained remediators own the proper equipment.  This means that even after you think you have dealt with mold, there is a high probability that some spores are still present and that these can multiply. Diffusing essential oils seems to be more effective than anything else.  Ingrid Naiman tried filters, ozone, lots of things, but found when essential oil is nebulized, it lays down an invisible film that inhibits mold.  Essential oils are not inherently toxic, but one can have too much of a good thing Essential oils may not eliminate mold.  It might not be possible to destroy mold. Mold is protected by chitin.  Oyster shells are made of chitin.  Inhibition often works better than toxins and ozone.  If mold is sprayed with something nasty, it tends to go dormant and then comes back later even worse,   Meanwhile, everything else, including you, your biofilm, your pets and animals near by and your visitors also get bits of poison.

Aid detoxification

Whenever or however we induce hormesis, we encourage (at the cellular level) increased metabolic (detoxification) efficiency and enhanced fitness as well as fat and toxin loss.  Inefficient flabby folks benefit from environmental signaling of intermittent mild stress and the resultant metabolic and epigenetic change called hormesis.  

Fat is the body's favorite place to put toxins and excess fat defines the metabolic switch to storage.  Loss (reduction) of body fat releases toxins.

Leptin (a neurohormone) controls transcription of the pro-opiomelanocortin (Pomc) gene, which suppresses appetite. Leptin is normally made by fat cells to ensure food intake matches energy expenditure.  However, the obese often have receptors insensitive to leptin, leading to more appetite.

In the fit (well-fed with normal body weight), leptin inhibits appetite by causing the protein STAT3 to migrate to the nucleus of POMC neurons.  Nuclear STAT3 inhibits appetite by sustaining normal Pomc gene transcription.  

When inflammation is acute, like that caused by a viral infection, suppressed translocation of STAT3 is more than compensated for by reduction in Pomc transcription (by causing RELA to migrate to the nucleus).  Nuclear RELA elevates Pomc transcription in loss of appetite of illness (or severe injury).  RELA also blocks STAT3 from even entering the nucleus. 

No food intake induces reparative hormesis and allows pancreatic enzymes (instead of digesting food) to be activated at the alkaline site of inflammation and reduce ROS response.  In the flabby (low metabolic efficiency), methylation (a DNA silencer) prevents nuclear RELA from binding.   

Less Pomc transcription partly explains why the obese have a larger-than-normal appetite (which fuels chronic inflammation).

Vitamin C is an antibiotic, antiviral, antitoxin and antihistamine. Let the orthomolecular greats be given their due. The importance of vitamin C cannot be overemphasized." - Andrew Saul, Ph.D.  Today, one would add lipoic acid and coenzyme Q10 and perhaps liposomal glutathione.

Myrrh aids many detoxification therapies. A healthier looking, glowing skin is produced, which is matched by robust hair from roots to tips.  Fluid retention (reduced by myrrh) can be a part of too many toxins.  Myrrh stimulates white blood cells.  Myrrh reduces the chances of infection caused by viruses and fungi.  Most essential oils promote detoxification.

In biblical times, myrrh was worth three times Frankincense, although demand for Frankincense, was five times greater.  Available as dried sap or essential oil, both were derived from purposely wounded trees.  Frankincense and myrrh were more precious than gold.  Essential oils were used for their pain-relieving and healing properties; so valuable were they, that slaves, land and animals were exchanged for them. 

The mother’s perineum and the umbilical cord were also traditionally anointed (with myrrh).   It has since been rediscovered that this was not merely a ritual.  Frankincense and myrrh are highly anti-infectious, and myrrh is very soothing. 

Xenohormesis is how science explains that environmentally stressed plants produce bioactives that confer metabolic and genetic stress resistance and survival benefits to animals that eat them.  Animals piggyback off plants' sophisticated stress response. 

Eliciting the plant stress response can be used to maximize health-promoting plant compounds. Stressful plant compounds improve longevity and fitness by activating cellular stress responses. 

Chalcones (unsaturated aromatic ketones) are plentiful in the herb and essential oil Angelica (Chinese parsley).  Cilantro and all parslies enhance detoxification.  Chalcones are toxic in high amounts, but at the proper dose, they are anti-inflammatory and inhibit cell cancer lines.

                                                      Fermentation           

One of the best ways to not absorb heavy metals and toxins and get them out is to host a robust biofilm.  

Genetics is far more complicated than theorized.   We are an ecosystem, 90% of DNA belongs to the bacteria that outnumber our cells 10 to 1 (and that is not even counting yeasts and viruses). This microscopic (and submicroscopic) world that is too small to see with our vision has major influence on digestion, detoxification and immunity. 

Fermented foods optimize health and prevent disease. The culturing process produces many more  beneficial bacteria than probiotics, which are extremely important for health since they help balance gut flora, boosting overall immunity.  

When fermenting vegetables, you can either use a starter culture, or simply allow the enzymes and bacteria to do the work (wild fermentation).  When fermenting foods, avoid plastic and/or metal.  Use glass jars, ceramic crocks or wooden barrels.  

Any food can be fermented, although some are tastier than others. Caution must be heeded when fermenting meats, but any vegetable can be safely fermented, and are among the safest foods when it comes to food borne illness. 

Whether or not to use salt is mostly preference.  While salt is not necessary, there are reasons for adding it.  Salt strengthens the ferment’s ability to eliminate potential pathogens and adds to the flavor.  Salt acts as a preservative, making large batches last.  Salt slows the enzymatic digestion of vegetables, leaving them crunchier and also inhibits surface molds.  Fermentation makes minerals more bioavailable. 

An important step is to squeeze the vegetables before packing them into the jar. You don’t need any fancy tools for this; just use your hands. “Bruising” the vegetables in this way allows the cell walls to break down and release their juices. 

Capture the juice in the jar you’re going to ferment your vegetables in. Then stuff as many veggies into the jar that will fit. You want to stuff them in as tightly as possible, forcing out any air that might ruin the batch. The brine covers the vegetables.

Then loosely cover the jar with the lid and leave it on the kitchen counter.  See that the veggies are completely covered with the natural brine you squeezed out of the vegetables (or add a small amount of celery juice), and that the juice is all the way to the top of the jar to eliminate trapped air.  

To speed up the fermentation, store the jars in a warm, slightly moist place for 24-96 hours, depending on the food being cultured. Ideal temperature range is 68-75 degrees Fahrenheit; 85 degrees max. You don’t want it too hot, as heat will kill the beneficial microbes. 

You don’t want to forget it because fermentation produces pressures, especially at first.  One relieves pressure by opening the jar for a second.  In that way, you don’t get a lot of pressure and risk the jar exploding (or splashing).  If using a canning jar, where the glass is thick and the lid is thin, it will just contort the top. But it’s best to consciously release the pressure. 

Another tip, that all good cooks do instincively, is to smell and taste (your ferment) regularly.

Other detoxification strategies

The liver is most affected by excess heat, but since it filters blood, the entire body is also affected, so detoxification makes sense in spring and summer.  Olive oil (with its polyphenols) and fresh lemon juice with water and perhaps cayenne pepper (imbibe a lot for a day, or take a little daily for a week) makes us 'want to go' and will flush the liver and gall bladder.

In distillation, water is boiled, evaporated and the vapor condensed.  Distilled water is free of dissolved minerals and has the special property of being able to actively absorb toxins from the body and eliminate them.  Drinking distilled water helps detoxify.  Detoxify for only short periods of time (1-3 weeks), otherwise build and repair.

Even simpler, squeeze 1/2-1 lemon (depending on size) into an 8 oz glass of warm or room-temperature water.  The warm liquid stimulates the restorative healing and detoxifying response (compared to stressful cold water).  Drink this 10 minutes before eating.  Use organic lemons, and not bottled juice.  Organic lemons have less pesticides.

Lemons are powerful antibacterial, antiviral and immune boosting.  Lemons are a digestive aid and liver cleanser.  Lemons contain citric acid (an organic acid which buffers), magnesium, vitamin C, bioflavonoids, pectin, calcium and limonene, which both balance us and our immunity.

Lemon juice improves digestion and detoxification.  Lemon juice (or tea made from citrus rinds) treats heartburn and indigestion.  Citrus scent improves mood and energy, and reduces anxiety.  Lemon juice helps improve digestion, aids in removal of toxins, and increases energy, promoting increased fitness, loss of fat as well as improved hormonal balance.

The skin is the largest detoxifying organ of the body, eliminating toxins through sweat and desquamation.  Heat-producing exercise like dancing or running encourages cleansing.  Shower after working out to rinse off compounds in sweat so they aren't reabsorbed.

Dry brushing to aid detoxification is effective done with a dry brush on dry skin (although water potentiates the effect).  Using a natural bristle brush can be important, as nylon (unless bristle ends are shredded, not just cut) can cause tiny tears.  

One starts at the extremities and works towards the heart.  Working outwards puts extra pressure on valves in veins and lymph vessels and can cause ruptured vessels or varicose veins.

One starts at the feet and works in small,  brisk circular motions up each leg, then up the front and back of the torso to the heart.  One then starts again at the hands and works up the arms, shoulders, neck and chest towards the heart.  

Most avoid brushing the face, but some rave about it. Special, smaller brushes work the face and teeth.  

A clay-based toothpaste (with or without essential oils) can aid cleansing of teeth and gums.  Water, clay or diatomaceous earth, salts both dissolved and/or physical, enzymes can potentiate the pleasure and efficacy of brushing.

Pulling oils (like olive, sesame or coconut) through the teeth for 10-20 minutes (and then discarding the oil) invites microscopic pathogens as well as toxins to leave the body. 

Sweating promotes health, not only with exercise but also with heat.  Traditions include baths, sweat lodges, saunas (dry heat), and steam baths.  Toxins (arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury) are excreted in sweat.   Sweating not only enhances excretion of heavy metals, but also increases excretion of many toxicants, like flame retardants and BPA.

An infrared sauna promotes sweating and gets more toxins out with less heat.  To get the most out of sauna, try the niacin flush.  The niacin flush is very powerful and even helps break addictions.  First, take vitamin C (1gm) and 100mg of niacin (vitamin B3) with water.  Fifteen minutes later, begin sweat-inducing exercise and continue for 20-30 minutes.  The niacin flush turns skin bright red.  Stay in the sauna for 20-30 minutes and drink lots of water.  Leave the heat right away if you feel faintness. 

The hot towel scrub is simple.  Run a washcloth under hot water, wring it and rub for 5-10 minutes. The friction removes dead skin cells, while the heat opens pores and assists fat breakdown.  Using a mirror gives one a greater sense of connection.

For more rigorous detoxification, take baths.  Add Epsom salt (4 cups), two bags of detox tea, and two bags of digestive enzyme tea (or four opened capsules of digestive enzymes) to the water.  For more relaxation, add some kava, a few drops of lavender essential oil (or both).

For long-lasting resolution of chronic health issues like congestion and mental fog, an elimination diet can be a potent cleansing aid. At the most basic level, eliminate refined sugar, high-temperature fried foods, factory-farmed meat and commercial dairy products. Allergens like gluten, and grains like wheat and corn may also be removed to see if improved energy and/or digestion results. 

Shift to a diet without processed foods and eat only fruits, vegetables, nuts and soaked seeds (no whole grains).  Another step is to not cook foods. Even more powerful is a juice fast, with freshly-made fruit and vegetable juices. Start your cleansing diet with small changes to avoid discomfort.

Detoxify your mind, heart and spirit.  This is just as important as detoxifying your body, and it’s an area few of us ever think about as a source of toxins.

Chlorella and spirulina bind to mercury, arsenic, cadmium and lead, these greens are excellent for removing heavy metals. Moreover, chlorophyll not only attracts harmful metals but also binds to the toxins, preventing reabsorption.  Zeolite has magnetic attributes and is one of the best ways of eliminating troublesome metals.  Zeolite was used for 30 days. with a significant reduction in heavy metals, without any negative effect on vital electrolytes.

Chelation

Although intravenous chelation carries risk, the oral protocols with cilantro (Mexican parsley) that Dr.Omura reported for mercury also work for aluminum and lead.  Cilantro (and other parsleys) also assist other metals out.  Metals are excreted mainly with the urine, so stay well hydrated to assist detoxification.  Less stress is endured if toxins come out in the feces, so also ingest much fiber.

Toxic metals compete with lighter essential minerals to impair immunity as well as damage organs.  In the blood, metal toxins are targeted by white blood cells that die trying to eliminate them.  The dead white blood cells clutter the plasma and often form strings of debris. 

The risks of chelation are binding of essential minerals as well as reabsorption of heavy metals.  Metals compete with essential minerals, so do regular supplementation (at a different time of day).  Chelated minerals (in ratio) is a good strategy especially when trying to minimize impact of heavy metals. Reabsorption tends to be higher with 'heroic' IV protocols.  

The tolerance level for cilantro varies from one drop in water stretched over five days to two ounces (for those with low levels of toxic metals).  Most can remove nearly all the toxic metals that can be chelated in 1-3 weeks (if they they are reasonably able to tolerate the protocols).  However, it can take years to move heavy metals that are tightly bound.  

Chelating agents (EDTA and DTPA) also have effects on metalloproteins.  They inhibit protease activity. Protease activity occurs when the enzymes cut the peptide bonds between proteins.  EDTA stops hemorrhage activity. 

By removing the metals from enzymes, chelating agents reduce destructive activity.  When magnesium and zinc are restored, hemorrhage activity returns.  With the chelator DTPA, an even more powerful anti-hemorrhaging effect is seen. Citrate secretion (a produced chelator) reduces the activity of specific enzymes.

While extended time can be discouraging, some are efficient excretors, most are in between and some are inefficient excretors.  Healthy children average 7.7X  more hair mercury than autistics.  Poor detoxifiers are more likely to display neurological problems.  

Polluting companies often select the highest quartile of toxicity found in hair analysis for disease causation and defining their responsibility, but they are also selecting a group of efficient detoxifiers.

Finding heavy metals is not cut and dry.  Heavy metals are only detected in the blood with recent exposure.  The hair is one of the most telling ways of detection.  Although, haIr isn't black and white either.  Rather than producing elevated hair toxins, one who is a poor excretor will display low hair levels, because they hold onto poisons, rather than.excreting them.  

Inflammation is toxic

Inflammation is a complex series of chemical and cellular activities with vigor of response that varies, performed because of injury or abnormal stimulation (physical, chemical or biological). The inflammatory response (warmth, pain, redness and swelling) is a defense mechanism.

Inflammation is multi-faceted.  It is primarily a cellular response, although chronic inflammation might make us emotionally feel irritated and/or be depressed.  After an inflammatory stimulus, neutrophils migrate to the insult.  Near the insult, mobile neutophils become sessile. Sessile neutrophils (like sessile pathogens) release many things, including digestive enzymes and inflammatory mediators. Some trigger membrane arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism, which is inflammatory. Cyclo-oxygenase (COX) and lip-oxygenase (LOX) are enzymes that produce a crescendo of inflammatory prostaglandins, resulting in accentuated pain.  If the membranes also house significant EPA (eicosa penta-enoic acid), not only are we mentally and physically more limber, the same enzymes (COX and LOX) trigger faster healing with less pain. Inflammation is triggered by chemical mediators (histamine, serotonin and more) and from white blood cells, mostly neutrophils (prostaglandins, leukotrienes, lysosomal enzymes and more). Chronic inflammation can be triggered by cellular stress and dysfunction, excessive calorie consumption, elevated blood sugar and oxidative stress.  The destructive capacity of chronic inflammation is unprecedented among physiologic processes. Injured cells make cytokines like IL-1ß and TNFa, that stimulate the migration of neutrophils from the capillaries so they release their destructive enzymes at the inflammatory site.  The initiating cause of inflammation does not determine the results. In all inflammation, neutrophils are attracted to the injured site of and invade the tissue, and amplify the cascade.  Macrophages phagocytize bacteria and provide a second line of defense. They also secrete many chemotactic and growth chemicals like fibroblast growth factor (FGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) and thus direct proliferation, granulation and contraction.

Inflammation is a process that you want to proceed in full force after any acute injury. Inflammation attracts blood, nutrients, white blood cells, and many chemicals that work together to repair.  

If you deny injured tissues a full bout of inflammation, it's quite possible that the tissues won't return to full strength, especially if they've been injured before.  By suppressing inflammation, you interfere with healing and predispose an injured area to further injury. 

Inflammation (and repair) is rhythmically diurnal

Inflammatory cytokines have distinct diurnal rhythms that peak in the early morning and are inversely related to the rhythm of plasma cortisol.

The reductive 'evening peak' (measured at 8AM, between pH cycles, 3PM is strongly alkaline and 10PM is strongly acid) of circulating stem cells is like the circadian rhythm of neutrophil, monocyte, and lymphocytes and coincide with the marked diurnal patterns in circulating factors that mobilize stem cells (colony stimulating factors and glucocorticoids).

Diurnal patterns matter.  Myocardial infarction, acute coronary syndrome, sudden cardiac death and ischemic stroke show marked peak in the early morning.  This peak results from many different processes, including increased vascular and sympathetic nervous system tone, higher arterial blood pressure, and relatively more inflammation (hyper-coagulability).  

Essentially all organisms have a circadian rhythm (biological clock), which controls basic physiological and cellular functions that vary in a cyclical pattern through 24 hours.  Biological processes under circadian control include everything from sleep/wake cycles to DNA repair. 

At the cellular level, circadian rhythm is controlled by a molecular clock (oscillator) that runs with a periodicity of about 24 hours. To coordinate the activities of our trillions of cells, these individual peripheral clocks are synchronized by a central pacemaker, much in the way that timepieces are synchronized to Greenwich Time. 

In higher organisms, circadian clocks are synchronized to the to the light/dark cycle by the amount of light that enters the eye and hits photoreceptors (melanospin-containing ganglion cells) in the retina that send electrical signals to the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN). 

The SCN innervates the pineal gland, which controls the production and release of melatonin. Melatonin then binds to its receptors on the membranes of peripheral cells and stimulates the expression of circadian controlled genes. The amount of blue light entering the eye synchronizes the periodicity of molecular oscillators in all cells.

Melatonin is highly conserved. It can be traced back to ancient photosynthetic prokaryotes. A primitive and primary function of melatonin is that it acts as a receptor-independent free radical scavenger and a broad-spectrum antioxidant. The receptor-dependent functions of melatonin came later. 

The original melatonin metabolite may be N¹-acetyl-N²-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine (AFMK) rather than its commonly measured urinary 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate.

There are many ways to form AFMK, enzymatic and pseudo-enzymatic ones, reactive oxygen species (ROS)/reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and UV light. AFMK is in mammals and is the melatonin metabolite in single celled organisms. 6-Hydroxymelatonin sulfate is not seen in lower ranked organisms. 

AFMK seems to have evolved earlier than 6-hydroxymelatonin sulfate.  Via AFMK, one melatonin molecule scavenges up to 10 ROS/RNS.  Melatonin's free radical scavenging capacity extends to its secondary, tertiary and quaternary metabolites. 

Melatonin's interaction with ROS/RNS is prolonged and involves a cascade of derivatives,  This cascade reaction of melatonin differs from other antioxidants. 

Melatonin's chemical cascade makes it highly effective, even in low amounts, at quenching oxidative stress.  Substantial melatonin is in tissues which are exposed to hostile environmental insults like the gut and skin or organs which have high oxygen consumption, like the brain (eyes). 

Melatonin production may also be hormetically upregulated by low intensity stressors like dietary restriction or exercise. 

Intensive oxidative stress results in a rapid drop in melatonin.  This decline is due to rapid use.  Circulating melatonin is rapidly reduced by interaction with ROS/RNS. Rapid melatonin use during elevated (oxidative) stress is protective. 

Oxidative status modifies melatonin metabolism. The higher the oxidative state, the more AFMK is made. Oxidative stress is indicated by the ratio of AFMK and another melatonin metabolite, cyclic 3-hydroxymelatonin.

Exposure to carcinogenic doses of chemical toxins creates ROS and can ablate normal rhythm, suggesting a direct link between toxin exposure, disruption of circadian rhythm and carcinogenesis. Methylselenocysteine (a glutathione precursor) not only reduced the incidence of mammary tumors in rats (70%), but also reset expression of circadian genes. 

Carcinogens ablated, while glutathione restored and enhanced the rhythmic expression of the cellular receptors for melatonin and estrogen, as well as DNA repair genes.  This links loss of circadian rhythm with carcinogenesis.  However, neither carcinogen exposure nor dietary glutathione precursors altered central pacemaker or cyclical melatonin.

Dietary glutathione precursors can reset circadian gene expression disrupted by carcinogens. The clock gene also has histone acetyltransferase activity.  Acetylation of histones leads to more open chromatin, which facilitates binding to increase gene expression. 

Instead, Sirtuin 1 (a histone deacetylase), removes histone changes, leading to less gene expression. These enzymes fluctuate over 24 hours and determine the cyclical pattern of gene expression.  Carcinogen exposure ablates, while glutathione restores rhythmic acetylation of histones.

Aging (in mice) is slowed by restoring communication between mitochondria and nucleus.  Inducing hormesis via exercise and intermittent fasting or resveratrol (red wine and nuts), slows aging of intra-cellular communication. 

This involves alterations carcinogen- and MSC-induced changes in the ratio of reduced or oxidized glutathione and NAD/NADH, another modulator of Sirt1 histone deacetylase activity.   Less NAD leads to communication breakdown. By increasing NAD, mitochondrial function is quickly repaired. 

NADH is necessary to oxidize all foods (sugars, fats and amino acids) thus producing pyruvate from the glycolytic cycle to power the Kreb's cycle which produces electron energy that's used by the electron transport side chain to generate ATP.  NAD is a precursor to NADH (and vice versa) are coenzymes needed to produce energy.

NAD's reduced form is NADH.  NADH boosts mood (increases dopamine and noradrenaline). Supplementing with NADH also may spare tryptophan from being used to make serotonin.  Low serotonin may cause depression.

NADH is the first of five enzymes of the electron transport chain, where most ATP is made.  The brain uses much ATP, therefore low NADH (and less energy) may cause depression, dementia and chronic fatigue. NAD also activates other enzymes like alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase that detoxify alcohol. 

Disruption of circadian rhythm has significant physiological effects (sleep deprivation, jet-lag or the night shift).  Chronic disruption of circadian rhythm by shift work (exposure to light at night) or jet-lag is linked with chronic illnesses, including more risk to cancer. 

Dietary glutathione precursors can restore circadian rhythm in mammary cells independent of melatonin.  Perhaps glutathione precursors can partially restore peripheral clocks in shift workers. 

The typical inflammatory response has an ON/OFF switch.  When the acute injury or abnormal stimulation is controlled, the switch is turned to OFF (actually 'idle'). 

Inflammatory products are pathogenic biofilm's favorite food

In diabetes, the initial stage of high fat induced insulin resistance is not inflammatory, where the more chronic inflammatory state of insulin resistance (in established obesity with toxicity, pathogenic biofilm and lack of fitness) is largely mediated by macrophages. The early-onset insulin resistance during high fat intake is more likely caused by acute tissue lipid overload.

In chronic inflammation (arthritis, dermatitis, thyroiditis, psoriasis and many other chronic  complaints), something has gone wrong with the OFF switch (often an invisible biofilm).

Biologic agents (especially when organized in biofilms) have all kinds of strategies, tricks and subterfuges to get their favorite food (inflammatory products) from us.

Acute inflammation prevents the spread of damaging (or healing) agents, disposes of cell debris and sets the stage for tissue repair that returns the body to its original state. 

Chronic inflammation married with a pathogenic biofilm often leads to tissue destruction (like rheumatoid arthritis or chronic bronchitis) and is now thought to be the most important factor in heart disease, Type II diabetes, obesity, cancer, chronic fatigue, dementia or Alzheimer's, neurodegenerative diseases, as well as 'autoimmune' disease.

Knowledge of biofilm formation and its biological role in chronic inflammation is still evolving.  The development of biofilm is a very effective way for bacteria to survive and to resist antimicrobial agents. 

The initial event in biofilm formation is adhesion. The surface properties of medical devices are usually modified by a conditioning film. The effect of single blood proteins or of whole blood itself depends on bacterial strains.

Fibrinogen and fibronectin both enhance Staphylococcus aureus binding and inhibit Staph epidermidis or Gram-negative adherence, while whole blood promotes Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation.

Biofilm is not a static simple matrix made of homogeneous slime embedding bacteria. This sessile multicellular community is a dynamic complex system made from exo-polysaccharide matrix, embedding living microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts and viruses) with a gene expression different from planktonic (free-floating). 

Biofilm is a living organism and evolves according to local environmental conditions (hydrodynamic and biochemical, thickness and shear stress).  Biofilm has a spatial heterogeneity (channels, towers) that is linked to the type of bacteria and differs in relation to oxygen limitation, pH, nutrient access and growth rates.

Inflammation can be triggered by food choices, stress, man-made chemicals in air, food, water, cosmetics and drugs, but most likely, organized pathogens like bacteria, viruses and fungi, often 'farmed' by parasites (like a symbiotic biofilm is 'controlled' by our cells).  Parasites can confusingly incite parts of immunity while they also quell direct immune response.  Parasite eggs have their own tricks for survival.

• To cleanse your digestive system of parasites, one needs only garlic.  Garlic has many medicinal and healing purposes and is proven in eliminating parasites.  Garlic can kill parasites in the body quickly and effectively.
• Garlic is most effective if ingested immediately after the clove is opened.  Open one clove, crush or dice it, and mix it with your beverage of choice.  Usually, warm water, honey or tea works best. 
• If you don't want to drink garlic, instead add garlic to food.  Add garlic to pasta, or make garlic bread (more effective when oregano, basil or thyme is used) on a loaf with sprinkling chopped garlic over the bread. Toast for 5-10 minutes, and you have delicious garlic bread that will both invite parasites to leave or kill the ones living in your digestive system.
• After parasites have been eliminated, reduce the likelihood that they return.  Stay away from raw fish, which is a main source of parasites.  Add more garlic to your diet; try to eat garlic at least once per day.  This will help to keep parasites at bay if they should cleverly invade your system.

A colon cleanse aided by water, fiber, garlic, essential oils, enzymes and probiotics is a good place to start when inflammation is noticed.  To get progeny, repeat with the next full moon (and the next).

Conventional medicine acknowledges many of these causative agents, but its overwhelming “solution” is symptom suppression with prescription drugs. 

While short-term use of steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDS) drugs can be very effective, long-term use of any of these drugs (beyond a few weeks) can lead to life threatening side effects (hemorrhage, osteoporosis, heart disease and premature death).

On a molecular level, the damage caused by inflammation is the result of reactive oxygen species (ROS), these free radicals are highly unstable atoms or molecules with an unpaired electron that steals electrons from more stable molecules.

ROS are produced by pesticides, microwave damage, burnt foods, high-temperature frying, rancid foods, irradiation, microbes, manufactured trans-fats, artificially hydrogenated oils as well as thousands of inhaled or transdermal solvents, chemicals and preservatives.

Our defense against ROS is somewhat dietary antioxidants and very much more efficient genetically-driven enzyme systems.  Antioxidants neutralize ROS before they can cause damage and protect DNA.   Antioxidants are rich in colorful fruits and vegetables (lycopene, beta-carotene and vitamins A, C, E and bioflavonoids).  All antioxidants (reducing agents, like the genetically and epigenetically-driven glutathione enzyme systems) are anti-inflammatory.

Multi-chelated-mineral builds our own antioxidant reducing systems (avoid emphasis of iron, copper or manganese, excess can be oxidative and pro-inflammatory).

B complex vitamins have many anti-inflammatory effects.  Vitamins A, C, D, K and E(s) are mostly fat-soluble (another reason to eat fat) and all have anti-inflammatory activity.  

Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinol is its reduced form) is useful for gingival or cardiovascular problems (including high blood pressure).  CoQ10 helps those taking cardiac medications.  CoQ10 has anti-cancer effects and is effective therapy for Parkinson’s.

If one ingests a big dose of digestive enzymes without food while dismantling much digestive biofilm (and/or parasites), enzymes get into the blood and beside killing some parasites, provide many health benefits. Proteolytic enzymes reduce inflammation and swelling, assist clean out and repair, minimize clotting risk, reduce scar tissue, digest fibroid cysts, and break down immune complexes, which helps reduce autoimmune flares.  

Reducing gut inflammation reduces brain inflammation.  This primal gut/brain connection helps explain kinds of cognitive difficulties from attention-deficit and autism to Alzheimer's.  Inflammatory mediators are C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, TNF-a and other cytokine interleukins, NF-kb, enzymes like cyclo-oxygenase and lipoxygease and fats like eicosanoids.

Digestive enzymes (on an empty stomach) dramatically reduce pain and inflammatory triggers from any kind of trauma and roughly double the speed of healing.  For athletes, proteolytic enzymes can also improve performance and reduce recovery time.  Proteolytic enzymes, like bromelain, papain, pancreatin, trypsin, chymotrypsin and rutin modulate the inflammatory response. Among their actions is a 7-10X increase in the “appetite” of macrophages and in the potency of natural killer (NK) cells.

Serrapeptase is from silkworms and is one of the most potent anti-inflammatory enzymes.  In high enough doses, serrapeptase (or other enzymes) can dissolve atherosclerotic plaque.  Enzymes can also digest a cancer cell’s protective coat, making almost any remedy more effective.  

Nattokinase is an enzyme (serene proteinase) derived from boiled soybeans and Bacillus subtilis natto.  Oral nattokinase decreases plasma levels of fibrinogen, factor VII and factor VIII. Nattokinase is like plasmin, a clot-dissolving enzyme in blood.  Proteolytic enzymes can reduce inflammation equal to or superior to four powerful steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: phenylbutazone, hydrocortisone, indomethacin and acetylsalicylic acid.

Aspirin (acetylsalic acid, the first plant hormone of alarm) is anti-inflammatory and 'thins the blood.' Aspirin starts many responses including hormesis, so it is most effective when pulsatile.  

Aspirin reduces stickiness (of endothelium, red and white blood cells, platelets and bacteria) that, together with fibrin strands, make up blood clots. Long-term use of aspirin-like NSAIDs carries increased bleeding risk.  Coumadin (warfarin) which in disabling vitamin K has multiple side effects, works on excessive clotting by preventing fibrin strands from forming a clot.

Animal pancreatic enzymes are activated by the alkaline pH of inflammation or of the small intestines.  Pancreatic enzymes (of which there are 22 different kinds) are secreted by the pancreas.  Enzymes are reabsorbed in active multiple peptide forms.  Most plant and fungal systemic enzymes are effective over a wide range of pHs.  Bromelain and papain work in synergy to accomplish many of the same medicinal tasks. 

Amylase has antihistamine effects and can relieve many skin problems, like hives and rashes, contact dermatitis (such skin symptoms are signs of parasites), and allergic reactions to bee stings, bug bites, and poison ivy. Amylase, combined with certain herbs, relieves herpes, including canker sores, genital herpes, shingles, and chickenpox. Combined with skin-healing herbs, amylase can heal acne, eczema and psoriasis.

Some bacterial source systemic enzymes are less acid tolerant. Serrapeptase is made by gut bacteria of silkworms and is fragile.  We can isolate this enzyme for therapeutic use. This enzyme's job is to digest the cocoon. Serrapeptase is not intended to breakdown food, but act throughout to breakdown proteins like fibrin – a major inflammatory factor.

Nattokinase is extracted from beneficial Bacillus subtilis that is commonly found in the Japanese dish natto (fermented soy beans). This enzyme has powerful fibrinolytic activity and can be absorbed intact from the GI tract into the circulatory system.

Curcumin, from turmeric, is a potent natural anti-inflammatory equal in efficacy to prescription corticosteroids.  Curcumin, along with many other herbs and spices as well as fruits and vegetables is effective against cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) from fish oil are effective (krill oil works in lower doses) at suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines.  Omega-3 fatty acids work best with big doses of vitamin D, manufactured in high quantities by skin exposed to noon-time summer sunshine. 

EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) or AA (arachadonic acid), can act to form the inflammatory enzymes, cyclooxygenases and lipoxygenases.  Anti-inflammatory EPA competes with AA (pro-inflammatory).  Adding omega-3 fats lessens inflammation because omega-6 AA derivatives (prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes) are pro-inflammatory. 

The pain relieving potency of omega-3 oils is about equal to NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and side effects tend to be beneficial, like improving the attitude, thinning the blood and extending health span.

Remedies work most effectively when pulsed, so that our tissues don't hormetically adapt.  Our diurnal rhythm is most alkaline around 3-5 AM or PM.  Typical peaks of oxidation, pain production and awareness are when we are most alkaline.  An 'alkaline tide' occurs in the rest of the body when the stomach makes a lot of acid (about one half hour after a big meal).

Mutagens

Repeated toxicity causes mutation. Mutagens are found everywhere. Used by Nature, they are also abundant in modern pesticides and chemicals. One can also create mutagens when cooking, such as barbecued and well-done or burned. Reduce mutagenicity by first using a marinade and then cooking at low heat.  Fat stores many mutagens, so many cancers develop there. Continued oxidative stress (which overloads buffering capacity) leads to chronic inflammation, which mediates most diseases including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular, neurological, and pulmonary problems.  However, intermittent oxidative stress (which is quickly quenched) induces development, growth, repair and adaptive hormetic response.   Oxidative stress (biphasically) activates many transcription factors (NF-κB, AP-1, p53, HIF-1α, PPAR-γ, β-catenin/Wnt and Nrf2).  Activation of these leads to expression of over 500 genes, including growth factors, inflammatory (and anti-inflammatory) cytokines, chemokines and cell cycle factors.  How continued oxidative stress activates inflammation leading to transformation of a normal cell to tumor cell (survival, proliferation, chemo-resistance, radio-resistance, invasion, angiogenesis), and stem cell growth is the current focus (not the causative irritant).    It is not just mental or neurological issues that arise from lead or mercury contamination.  Mercury and other heavy metals deplete immunity and damage DNA.  Heavy metals not only can precipitate cancer, they can cause it.  After heart attack, high levels of mercury are found in the tissues and all cancer cells have mercury in them. Many of the foods that protect against cancer are also desmutagens.  Detoxifying foods like cruciferous vegetables and the herb, galangal are desmutagens. Galangal is a commonly used in Thai food.  Thai dishes have been tested for their desmutagenic properties. This was done by serving dishes prepared traditionally, not by analyzing individual ingredients or chemicals. When a mutagen is exposed to burdock, the mutagen is irreversibly decreased in potency. Burdock is used for skin conditions (psoriasis). It is also used by diabetics to increase fiber and inhibit sugar absorption. It also protects against toxicity by inhibiting absorption. Burdock is liver protective and regenerative and a male aphrodisiac. Burdock roots are free-radical scavengers. Perhaps 2500-3000 other plants have anticancer activity.  Many of Nature's miracles are commonly present in grocery stores.  Most essential oils are desmutagenic (bay laurel and wild oregano). Live a life of detoxification The metabolism uses energy to build, digest and detoxify in twice daily cycles of oxidation (alkalinity and irritability peak around 3-5 AM and PM) and reduction (coolness and acidity peaks about 10-12 AM and PM).  Generally, actively pursue your interests and eat when it is light; and rest and fast when it is dark. Eat intermittently and when you do, consume mostly fruits and vegetables (encouraging your digestive biofilm), but also add about 10% protein plus fat (determined by activity demands, as a ready source of energy). A detoxification program that boosts this normal cycle tends to strip the body of essential as well as toxic substances.  Intermittent cycles of assisted detoxification are most effective if they only last 1-3 weeks.  Coffee enema The coffee enema is used by many to enhance detoxification.  Some do this daily (or even more frequently).  It is a low-volume enema that remains only in the sigmoid colon.  A duct exists between the sigmoid colon and the liver.  When the stool reaches this point, it contains many toxins, which are sent to the liver for detoxification.  The coffee enema speeds elimination and reduces toxin absorption.  The caffeine causes the liver and bile ducts to empty into the sigmoid colon, boosting elimination of toxins.  Releasing toxins in the liver ducts, makes room for more.  Coffee's alkaloids also markedly stimulate production of glutathione-s-transferase, which enzymatically facilitates detoxification. Coffee enemas do not waste minerals and electrolytes because they have already been absorbed in the previous sections of the intestines. The coffee enema is safe even for people who are sensitive to caffeine because the coffee remains in the sigmoid colon, where it will have little systemic effect, if a reasonable amount is used and the enema bag is not placed too high. Epsom salts bath Detoxification via bathing is very powerful.  Skin is the third kidney, and it excretes toxins.  A bath assists in eliminating toxins and absorption of minerals and nutrients.   The bath also leaves one feeling calm and refreshed. A bath that starts out warm and finishes cold calms and helps excrete toxins, leaving one alert.   One can enhance the buffering and detoxifying effect of magnesium sulfate with sodium bicarbonate (however this salt is alkaline). To enhance the protective acidic pH of the hair and skin, after soaking, rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar (5 times more water). Magnesium is very important.  Typically, we don't eat enough of it.  If digestion is sub-optimal, then there’s no guarantee the magnesium ingested is actually absorbed.  The odds seem stacked against us getting optimal magnesium. Correcting low cellular magnesium leads to (although one's blood levels may be 'paradoxically' normal, or even high): Improved heart and circulatory health, less irregular heartbeats, less hardening of the arteries, reducing blood clots and lowering blood pressure.  Improved ability to use insulin, lessenng diabetes and aging.  Flushed toxins and heavy metals from the cells, easing muscle pain and helping to eliminate harmful substances. Improved nerve function by electrolyte regulation.  Calcium is the main conductor for electricity in the body, and magnesium is necessary to move calcium.  Exciting calcium 'wires' the sympathetic nervous system and calming magnesium 'wires' the parasympathetic system. Excess adrenaline and stress drain magnesium, a stress reliever.  Magnesium is necessary to bind adequate serotonin, a mood-elevator.  Magnesium reduces inflammation to relieve pain and muscle cramps, improves oxygen use as well as enhances absorption of nutrients.  Epsom salt baths prevent or ease migraines. Sulfur is the 8th most common element in the human body.  It’s used in every area.  Sulfate promotes pancreatic enzyme action.  Sulfate helps form mucins.  Sulfur compounds promote phase 2 detoxification.  Sulfate is necessary to form brain tissue and for neurotransmitters.  Sulfate is needed for joint lubrication. Low sulfur plays a big part in poor digestion, inefficient detoxification, bad brain status and hurting joints. There are 3 ways to get sulfates.  Eating, skin absorbing, or creating it from methionine and cysteine.  Absorbing sulfur from eating foods is very inefficient.  And, if one has irritable bowel or gut dysbiosis, inflammation blocks assimilation. Clay Clay and dirt are used by indigenous people, including our ancient ancestors.  Over 200 cultures eat dirt daily. In Europe, it is widely used to aid digestion and for anti-aging.   Every animal eats dirt and clay.  Animals consume clay instinctively.  Animals lick the dirt or mud and also will roll in it, especially when injured.  They will also search for clay after ingesting toxins.  Clay aids detoxification.  Clay is full of minerals that are building blocks of antioxidant enzyme systems and has a high negative ionic charge that acts as a powerful antioxidant. This allows clay to buffer and pull toxic pathogens and toxins out cleanly. Clay is a collection of inert super-charged minerals.  They retain their negative electromagnetic charge from the thermodynamic heat of formation.  When combined with water and consumed, clay adsorbs an enormous amount of toxins as a sponge-like magnet and carries them out. Clay has a magnetic affinity for heavy metals, viruses and intestinal parasites.  Clay stimulates the revitalization and rebuilding of damaged tissues. Taking in clay internally helps to adsorb many times its weight in water and grab toxins along the way. Clay baths utilize clay's strong drawing powers to help pull toxins out via the skin.  Clay will pull out infectious organisms, heavy metals and other major toxins. Food-grade diatomaceous earth has similar attributes and is microscopically sharp (and deadly).  Polluted air  Fine particulate matter is generated from vehicle exhaust and coal burning.  This inflammation-causing matter exists now in major cities around the world.  Whole countries, including China, India and some in Latin America, can easily average 100-150 µg/m^3.  Pollution goes beyond the lungs; this fine matter is transported by innate immune cells and carried through specific protein pathways. The toxicity of polluted air has penetrating power and becomes a significant source of inflammation and insulin resistance. Nanotechnology Nanotechnology provides systems at the scale of the atom (nanoscale).  Manufacturing is actually the rearranging of individual molecules and atoms into complex "molecular machines."  One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. To get a picture of just how small these particles are,  a human blood cell is 8,000 nanometers, and a human hair is 80,000 nanometers wide. On one hand, nanoparticles are an incredible advancement.  Nanotechnology can shrink the size of vitamins down to microscopic nanodroplets that are much easier to absorb.  On the other hand, nanoparticles are so small that that they can easily mount to an invisible toxicity.  Industrial agriculture is undergoing another major transformation that will amass even more corporate control over the food supply, this time with regard to the composition of chemical pesticides.  Nanoparticles are now turning up in pesticide formulas being developed by Monsanto, Syngenta, BASF, Bayer CropScience and others. Nanosilver is antimicrobial silver smaller than 100 nanometers. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.)  The period at the end of this sentence is a million nanometers wide. Objects this small can penetrate parts of the body that larger sizes of silver cannot and thus increase silver’s antimicrobial effect. The new smaller size however also poses potential risks.  A lawsuit blocks nanosilver from the market without the legally required data about possible harmful effects.  Nanosilver impedes biofilm formation.  Silver is very effective against mature biofilms of P. aeruginosa, but concentration counts.  A concentration of 5-10 mug/mL silver sulfadiazine eradicates biofilm, but less (1 mug/mL) has no effect. The concentration of silver necessary to eradicate biofilm is 10-100 times higher than that used to kill planktonic bacteria. Silver nanoparticles also fight virus.  Silver inhibits the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the hepatitis B virus and the H1N1 influenza A virus.  Condoms coated with silver nanoparticles inactivate the infectiousness of both HIV and herpes simplex.  Disinfection (using silver applied to a water filter) more than doubles its effectiveness in removing viruses. To Sum it up  Conventional medicine treats autoimmune disorders (including diabetes, heart disease (endothelial dysfunction), cancer and mental malfunction) as incurable.  In the medical perspective, these diseases require a lifetime of strong immune-suppressing drugs.  Instead, alternative practitioners view autoimmunity as an overwhelmed immune system caused by parasitic biofilm, toxicity and nutritional deficiencies.  The holistic approaches to these "immune system dysfunctions" include eliminating pathogenic biofilm and parasites, enhancing detoxification and decreasing toxicity by eating three or four servings of green vegetables daily and following a nutrient-dense diet. "Every human being is author of his own health or disease,” says the Buddha.  It is an important lesson - to take responsibility for oneself. “Who controls you? Who puts you in a toxic environment and perhaps adds chemicals to your body or feeds dysfunctional, denatured stuff into your mouth?   One is ultimately responsible for ‘choosing’ work, play and fun.  We are empowered, conscious beings.. If one does not choose wisely, quality and quantity of life will be reduced on this amazing planet.