Detoxification
Maintaining a healthy balance, step by step
Detoxification is one of the body’s most important functions, allowing it to protect itself from external influences and to stay healthy. The body’s detoxification system is able to cope with foreign substances such as chemicals, exhaust emissions, pesticides and heavy metals. It is important to maintain a physiological balance between stress and relief.
Detoxification
Consciously rising to the challenges of our time
Health awareness is on the rise in Germany. This can be clearly seen in everyday life, and not just in terms of diet and our enthusiasm for sports. The trend based on therapist recommendations to “detox” the body on a regular basis shows an awareness of adapting to external changes in order to relieve the body.
Our liver’s job
There are many ways to support the body’s detoxification function. But “detoxification” must ultimately be done by the liver, because only this primary metabolic organ is capable of converting foreign substances absorbed via the skin, respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract so that they can be excreted.
This takes place in two complex phases, one after the other in the liver cells and with the participation of enzymes and nutrients. Fat-soluble foreign substances are first activated in order to be able to better process them. This is followed by coupling with endogenous substances, which enables excretion via the kidneys or intestines.
Good to know: The liver is considered the most important metabolic organ and is also the only organ capable of complete regeneration.
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Default. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
Detoxification
An increasing number of external influences
In addition to a higher standard of living, technical innovations and constant new developments also lead to an increase in foreign substances in our environment. The following facts and figures show some examples of the extent to which our bodies are exposed to these influences:
Microplastics
- According to estimates by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, about one third of plastic waste enters the environment via wastewater every year.
- Every week, each of us ingests an average of up to 5 g of plastic (= one credit card); around 1,769 microplastic particles (0-1 mm) are ingested via drinking water alone.
Heavy metals
- The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ranks lead, mercury and cadmium among the TOP 10 pollutants with the highest health risk due to their high occurrence and hazard potential.
- In Germany, adults consume about 15-30% of the tolerable amount of cadmium, lead and mercury each week.
Cigarette smoke
- 26.4 percent of men, 18.6 percent of women and 6.0 percent of young people between the ages of 12 to 17 still smoke.
- There are around 500 different additives in one cigarette.
- Tobacco smoke is a mixture of 5,300 substances, 250 of which are toxic.
- One in five new cancer cases in Germany are the result of smoking.
- “Tobacco Atlas Germany 2020.” German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ)
Source: WWF Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People – An analysis by Dalberg and the University of Newcastle, Australia
DKFZ – Tobacco Atlas Germany 2020
Detoxification
Supporting the liver
We can support the liver by consciously limiting our intake of harmful substances and reducing them to a minimum. Stimulants such as coffee, alcohol and tobacco also put a strain on the liver and should be consumed less.
Nutrients with antioxidant properties and sulphur-containing substances, on the other hand, should be consumed in greater quantities. Healthy intestines can also support the liver, because foreign substances can be retained more effectively and excreted more quickly.
