These 13 Toxins are Poisoning You Everyday. Avoid Them at All Cost

We have no idea how many toxins we absorb into our bodies on a day-to-day basis, and we know even less how those chemicals affect our health.

In a 2006 article for National Geographic, reporter David Ewing Duncan asked that very question: Just how many chemicals do normal human beings have in their bodies without even realizing it? The answer shocked him. Using himself as a human guinea pig, he allowed himself to be tested for 320 different chemical substances. His body showed traces of at least 165 of them. Some of his levels were relatively low; however, others were alarmingly high—higher than the normal level for factory workers who spend every day working in the presence of those same chemicals.1 Mr. Duncan isn’t a factory worker, though, he’s a journalist, and not one who spends any of his time in chemical or manufacturing plants. According to the article, his body tested positive for:

…Older chemicals that [he] might have been exposed to decades ago, such as DDT and PCBs; pollutants like lead, mercury, and dioxins; newer pesticides and plastic ingredients; and the near-miraculous compounds that lurk just beneath the surface of modern life, making shampoos fragrant, pans nonstick, and fabrics water-resistant and fire-safe.

While more research will need to be done in order to determine just how such chemicals affect us, it’s not surprising that each of them adds a degree of toxic stress to our bodies. The more toxic chemical load present in any human, the greater the degree of health complications that will be present.

Take lead for example. In 1971 the U.S. Surgeon General announced that any level of lead below 40 micrograms per deciliter of blood was safe. Now we know that even a trace of lead can be detrimental, especially in children where it has been shown to cause neurological damage and reduced IQs. It is very possible that the levels of arsenic in our orange juice and rice, the levels of mercury in our fish, and the levels of fluoride and chloride in our water, that are now deemed safe, may one day be determined by our government to be extremely dangerous. It wouldn’t be the first time they were wrong.

Our bodies are stressed, and we don’t know it. In the beginning our bodies try to keep up, recover, compensate and do what they can to survive. Once these coping strategies get overwhelmed, the problems that have been flying below the radar get expressed as symptoms that arise. Television commercials and marketing campaigns advise us to take something to suppress the symptoms. Birth control for heavy bleeding, Advil for pain, Pepcid for reflux. When we suppress those symptoms, it makes it that much harder to find the real culprit. For instance, we are faced each day with endocrine-disrupting chemicals that our grandparents never had to face. The BPA found in food cans, water bottles, and cell phone protectors disrupts our hormonal balance adding to estrogen overload. BPA is even found in the coating on every store receipt that you handle! This dangerous chemical affects every system in the body. It can lead to prostate or breast cancer, uterine fibroids, weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, early onset of puberty, and a whole host of other problems.

Synthetic estrogen is found in all oral birth control pills. It has been identified as a major cause of cancers in women. We are all exposed to this toxin as millions of these pills are flushed into the water supply every year. As we drink our tap water, we are being exposed to far too much estrogen. This again disrupts our normal hormonal balance.

Fire retardants that coat our furniture, clothing, and bedding contain a dangerous form of bromine that interferes with normal thyroid function. The thyroid is in charge of metabolism and energy and needs iodine to function properly. Because bromine is in the same family as iodine, it competes for dominance in the thyroid gland. It often wins, creating an underactive thyroid. So doctors prescribe thyroid medication, but never address why the thyroid is struggling in the first place.

The fluoride and chloride in our drinking water are also in the same family as iodine, and as you may have guessed, they also compete for dominance in the thyroid gland. Between bromine (found in fire retardants and in many soft drinks) and the fluoride and perchlorate (chlorine) in our water, the poor iodine molecules lose out—and ultimately, so does our health! Low thyroid function causes weight gain, fatigue, and depression. White flour is bleached that unnatural white color by using chlorine gas, so by all means, avoid white flour!

Phthalates are found in plastics—plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic storage containers, plastic water bottles, anything plastic. They add flexibility and resilience to plastic, but they are toxic! Chronic exposure to phthalates has been linked to obesity, low sperm count, diabetes, and thyroid conditions. Because of this, we encourage everyone to store as much as they can in glass instead of plastic; and by all means, don’t heat your food in plastic containers in a microwave oven! This is a health disaster waiting to happen.

Arsenic is found beneath the earth’s crust, but it can leach into the water supply whenever that crust is disrupted through construction, excavation, or mining. Exposure to arsenic can result in insulin resistance, immune system suppression, slowed cognitive development, cardiovascular damage, and weight gain/loss. The best way to protect against arsenic is to install a water filter, one that specifically contains the ability to remove arsenic. Trace amounts of arsenic are also present in processed orange juice. Avoid bottled juices whenever possible, and opt for freshly juiced, organic fruits and vegetables.

PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals) are found in non-stick cookware. If you own this type of cookware, replace it as soon as you can. When heated, PFCs leach into your food. This toxin is also used to coat the insides of bags of microwave popcorn. If you eat microwaved popcorn, you should stop immediately. Once PFCs start to accumulate in your body, they can cause infertility, ineffective sperm, heart disease, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, and low birth weight in babies. A recent study confirmed PFCs, especially PFOA and PFHxS, negatively affect thyroid hormone levels. A deep and thorough cleansing may be helpful for removing built-up levels of PFCs in the body.

Mercury is toxic and dangerous to pregnant women and the babies they carry. It’s known to affect women in particular as it will bind with a hormone essential to menstruation and ovulation. Mercury also attacks the pancreas, thereby affecting insulin production. This action may lead to diabetes; however, research is unclear on this topic. Reducing seafood consumption may be one of the best solutions to reducing mercury intake; unfortunately, fish is no longer the only concern. Immunizations often contain mercury as a carrier. Many parents choose not to immunize their children because they believe that exposure to childhood diseases is far less dangerous than exposure to a known neurotoxin. The new CFL lightbulbs contain dangerous levels of mercury. In fact, if one of these lightbulbs break, it’s recommended you evacuate the area to prevent exposure.

Aluminum is a toxin that finds its way quickly to the human brain where it is stored. The use of aluminum cookware has been implicated in human toxicity, as has the use of antiperspirants and over-the-counter heartburn and indigestion remedies. Professor Chris Exley from Keeley University in England is an expert in the field of research relating to Alzheimer’s disease. He is adamant that at some point in time, the accumulation of aluminum in the brain will achieve a toxic threshold and a specific neuron or area of the brain will stop coping with the presence of aluminum and will start reacting to its presence. If the same brain tissue is also suffering other insults or another ongoing degenerative condition, then the additional response to aluminum will make worse these effects. So aluminum may cause other conditions to be more aggressive or to have an earlier onset. These occurrences have already been shown in Alzheimer’s disease related to environmental and occupational exposure to aluminum.

Acrylamides are found in fried foods like French fries and potato chips. They are also present whenever you “char” meat on a grill, or even in a pan on the stove. They are present in cigarettes. Avoid fried foods, cigarettes, and charred meat products whenever possible as acrylamides build up in your body and cause serious damage.

Genetically modified foods are all around us, and big agri-business is pushing for more! The Monsanto Company is leading the way to influence lawmakers and consumers alike to accept genetically modified corn, soybeans, potatoes, and grains, even though GMOs have been shown to cause immune system, brain, and liver damage.

The number-one source of calories taken in by Americans today is from high fructose corn syrup. Starting in the 1970s, processed food manufacturers began using this damaging chemical instead of sucrose or table sweetener. Why did they do this? Because it was cheaper, and it produced a sweeter product. The generations of children who grew up with sweeter food crave that same level of satisfaction now that they are adults. This is one reason for the preponderance of obesity in our country today. Not only does high fructose corn syrup cause weight gain and metabolic problems, it also increases triglyceride levels and raises “bad” (LDL) cholesterol. Around 100 years ago, the average American consumed a mere 15 grams of fructose a day, primarily in the form of fruit. One hundred years later, one-fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams per day, largely in the form of soda. At 15 grams a day, fructose is harmless. However, at nearly ten times that amount it becomes a major cause of obesity and nearly all chronic degenerative disease.

So what did many of these overweight adults turn to? Diet sodas and “diet” foods filled with toxic artificial sweeteners. Now it seemed that we could have all the satisfaction with none of the guilt! The only problem is that artificial sweeteners can cause convulsions and make you crave more sweets. They can also cause weight gain and lead to diabetes. They produce toxins in the stomach when broken down by the body. Aspartame, the most commonly consumed artificial sweetener in America, is used in over 6,000 products worldwide despite its having been linked to a host of health problems, including brain tumors and brain cancer, lymphomas, leukemia, and other blood cancers, as well as breast and prostate cancer. It is an “excitotoxin,” and all excitotoxins increase the growth of cancer cells. This is a relatively easy one to eliminate from your life. Avoid any artificial sweeteners.

Another of the biggest stressors to our bodies in America today is a dangerous chemical that has been banned in many countries across Europe—glycophosphate. You have probably used this powerful defoliant to control the weeds in your yard. Known by the commercial trade name Roundup, glycophosphate is toxic, and it is used in the production and harvest of most of our foods. Many people think they are eating healthfully when they buy apples, grapes, or strawberries from the store. But unless these fruits are organic or verified to be pesticide-free, they could be a major cancer risk. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that up to 98 percent of all conventional produce, and particularly the type found on its “dirty” fruits list, is contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides.

Are you beginning to see how much stress is put on our bodies from toxic chemicals every single day? According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), it is estimated that over 80 percent of all illnesses have environmental and lifestyle causes. Not only can what we are exposed to make us ill, but the accumulation of toxins over the years can wreak havoc with our health. The more toxic our bodies are, the more our interior environment is stressed. Numerous diseases like arthritis, allergies, autoimmune diseases, and digestive dysfunction are all caused by an immune system that is so overloaded it begins to attack indiscriminately, striking at healthy cells as well as foreign pathogens.

While we have yet to determine the exact effects of all of these chemicals on our systems, it is safe to say that most of them weren’t around 100 years ago, and that the epidemic levels of cancer and other stress-related diseases we are seeing today were much lower back then as well. Over 69 million Americans live in large cities and areas that regularly exceed smog standards.3 Most tap water contains over 700 chemicals, sometimes including high concentrations of lead.4 Roughly 3,000 chemicals have been added to our food supply, and we are daily exposed to as many as 10,000 chemicals in the form of solvents, emulsifiers, and preservatives, many of which can remain in the body for years. According to Phyllis Saifer, MD, in her book Detox, “It is estimated that the average American ingests one gallon of food additives yearly.”5 Do we really think we can be taking all of this into our bodies without negatively affecting our health?