Detoxification Supplements
How Detoxification Works, How The Right Supplements Can Help
April 21st, 2012By Brian Rigby, Clinical Nutrition Writer
What Are Detoxification Supplements And How Do They Work?
The brand of detoxification supplement that PEERtrainer is using for the Cleanse is simply called "Detox Nutrients Packet" from Thorne Research.
They are designed to aid your body in the natural process of Phase I and Phase II detoxification. Our body is equipped to deal with foreign compounds and toxins, known as xenobiotics, but the incredible influx of toxins in the modern world has overrun many of our capabilities to properly detoxify the body. The result is toxic overload, and a gradual (or speedy!) decline of health.
Our body wants to be healthy, but sometimes it needs a little help to get its detox pathways flowing smoothly again. Toxins have depleted supplies of essential compounds without which our body cannot detox. The Daily Nutrient Packs help fix this.
A Very Brief Explanation of Detoxification: Science Class
Detoxification happens through two important phases. In the first phase, non-polar toxins are converted to polar substances, mostly through the incorporation of oxygen. The best analogy for a non-polar substance is that it is something like a non-magnetic object--it doesn't stick to anything.
Fat is a non-polar substance, and many toxins are non-polar as well. Most pertinent to detoxification, non-polar substances are not soluble in water because water is a polar substance. This is why fat and water don't mix, and it also applies to many toxins in the body.
Our body needs a way to take these toxic, non-water-soluble substances and make them water-soluble, because all the pathways out of the body involve water. So, phase I enzymes take the toxins and use oxygen to add a reactive, polar group.
Think About It This Way
This is like taping a magnet to something not inherently magnetic--you allow it to stick, through an intermediary, to other magnets. The result is a toxin which is now water-soluble and almost ready to be excreted.
Phase II takes the now polar toxins and conjugates them to specific amino acids. Conjugate in this context means combine, and it is like taking that now-magnetized toxin and sticking it to something which will be excreted--in one case, a tripeptide (three linked amino acids) like glutathione.
Glutathione and other important amino acids, such as taurine and cysteine, are like trucks leaving the city. Your body throws the magnetized toxins towards the truck, which catches them on its sheet-metal side and takes them out of your body, either through urine, sweat, or bile. By any route they leave, they're gone.
It's extremely important to really boost phase II detoxification because when phase I converts the toxins to polar substances, they become much more reactive, and they can damage DNA, proteins, and many other important parts of our body. Thankfully, many phytochemical compounds from plants are multi-functional inducers, elevating not only the levels of phase I enzymes, but the levels of enzymes involved in phase II as well.
This is where the the Detox Nutrient Packs from Thorne come in. It contains three supplements, all of which are contain clinically-tested ingredients which improve detoxification across all phases.
The Short Explanation For Why The Detox Nutrient Packs Are So Important
The Detox Nutrient Packs are a triple-whammy of detoxification boosting botanicals, minerals, and amino acids. Every single ingredient in all three of them has a proven record, confirmed through study and science, towards aiding the body in detoxification.
One of the key ways many of the ingredients do this is through increasing glutathione levels, and protecting it against depletion. Glutathione is one of the most important compounds in phase II detoxification, and without sufficient levels of it there is simply no way to effectively detoxify. Glutathione is constantly being depleted due to the high level of toxic burden placed upon us by our food and environment. Glutathione cannot be taken directly, so we must find ways to increase its synthesis in our body--something all three supplements in the Detox Nutrient Packs effectively do!
A lot of emphasis is placed upon increasing phase II detoxification. This is because phase I detoxification without phase II is actually more damaging than not detoxifying at all! All of the supplements in the Detox Nutrient Packs increase phase I and phase II detoxification to ensure your body does not only release the toxins, but excretes them as well.
For a more in-depth look at all of the supplements, read on below. What their key ingredients do is explained and backed by research. Many of them have incredibly powerful effects, much more than you could expect to get from your diet alone!
Liver Cleanse
The first supplement in the Detox Nutrient Packs is called "Liver Cleanse", and it contains potent extracts of a number of botanicals, including dandelion root, burdock root, milk thistle seeds, and berberine, plus a couple more. All of these botanicals have been shown through scientific studies to aid the liver in the essential processes of phase I and phase II detoxification.
Dandelion root has an extremely powerful effect on a group of enzymes called "UDP-glucoronosyl transferases", or UGTs for short. Of all the enzymatic pathways for phase II detoxification, UGTs may be the most important because they conjugate so many of the most common drugs, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol). In studies done with herbal teas, dandelion root was found to increase the activity of UGT by 244%! Dandelion root also had a minor effect on certain phase I enzymes, increasing their activity by 15%.
Burdock root, in addition to demonstrating antioxidant and hepatoprotective (liver protecting) qualities, also has been shown to restore glutathione levels in the liver. Glutathione is a nutrient essential in certain phase II enzymatic pathways. In addition, depleted levels of glutathione have been linked to chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease!
Milk thistle also plays a direct role involving glutathione. Whereas burdock root helps our body restore levels of glutathione, milk thistle seed contains phytochemicals which help protect against glutathione depletion. In addition, milk thistle is a hepatoprotective agent like dandelion root.
Berberine is another powerful phytochemical which protects the liver and other cells against depletion of glutathione. Berberine also induced DNA to repair itself and reduced the incidence of liver lesions, making it a potent hepatoprotective agent as well!
When all of these botanical extracts are combined, they significantly increase our liver's ability to do phase II detoxification, especially through guarding our glutathione reserves. Glutathione depletion is an all-too-common result of the toxic burden constantly being placed upon our body by alcohol, prescription drugs, and chemicals from food; Liver Cleanse does a great job of helping the body restore those levels and keep them high!
Toxic Relief Booster
The relief from toxic overload grows even stronger when Liver Cleanse is taken with "Toxic Relief Booster", which contains key minerals vital to phase I and phase II detoxification, and also extra botanical extracts to reinforce and augment the effects of the first supplement.
The two key minerals found in the Toxic Relief Booster are magnesium and selenium. Magnesium, in particular, is a mineral often found deficient in people suffering from toxic overload. Magnesium is a cofactor in the reaction which turns a form of cysteine and glycine into glutathione, and is thus an essential mineral to the detoxification process.
Selenium is also involved with glutathione, but in a slightly different manner. Selenium forms a complex with glutathione in a family of enzymes which is in charge of protecting the body from oxidative damage. While this family of enzymes is not directly involved in detoxification through the liver, they play a vital role in detoxifying red blood cells.
Grape seed extract, one of the botanicals in the Toxic Relief Booster, can play a significant role in boosting phase I detoxification by increasing expression of an enzyme known as CYP7A1, which regulates how much bile our body produces. Producing more bile is extremely useful in detoxification as the liver excretes toxins through bile, which then binds to soluble fiber in our intestines and gets eliminated. By increasing bile production, toxin elimination is directly increased!
[PEERtrainer Note: We have created a complete webinar and content series that outlines all the different parts of detoxification, including the foods to eat and the foods to avoid. We discuss the phenomenon of weight loss resistance, and discuss the important role that "PEER" support plays in the process of changing your habits for the better.
Enter your email below to be sent this webinar and content series. You'll also be sent a copy of the PEERtrainer Cheat System, which is a simple to follow diet plan that helps guide to toward to the foods that will help you, and away from those that can harm you.]
Curcumin is a phytochemical which is effective against mercury, an increasingly common toxin in our food supply, especially seafood. By increasing activity levels of certain enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidase, and helping to increase glutathione levels in general, curcumin not only protects against mercury-related toxicity, but can actively reverse it!
In short, the Toxic Relief Booster brings your detoxification efforts to an even greater level, ensuring you have enough of the necessary mineral cofactors for your body to utilize its detoxification pathways as well as helping your body target specific toxins, such as mercury.
Solvent Remover
Unlike the previous two supplements, "Solvent Remover" does not contain any botanical extracts. Instead, the focus is on the amino acids necessary for the phase I and phase II detoxification pathways. There are four key amino acids found in this product: glycine, L-glutamine, taurine, and N-acetyl-L-cysteine. In addition, Solvent Remover also contains alpha-lipoic acid.
Glycine is an important conjugate for the detoxification of phenolic acids. Examples of the common toxic phenolic acids are parabens and their derivatives, often found in skincare products. Once conjugated with glycine, the phenolic acids are excreted through our urine. Glycine is also an important precursor amino acid to glutathione, along with L-glutamate and cysteine.
Taurine, through still not fully understood mechanisms, plays a vital role in protecting our liver from damage and toxins. It also serves as a conjugate for bile acids, dramatically increasing the activity of CYP7A1, the enzyme which increases bile production, thus increasing phase I and phase II detoxification.
One of the best remedies for glutathione deficiency is N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine, which has be proven to replenish glutathione levels in our liver and cells. Glutathione is one of the most important nutrients involved in our phase II detoxification pathways, and our phase II detox is severely limited when we do not have enough.
Alpha-lipoic acid also increases glutathione production. In one study, treatment with alpha-lipoic acid increased glutathione by 50%! Alpha-lipoic acid also is potent neuroprotective agent, able to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Solvent Remover is designed to maximize your body's ability to restore glutathione and detoxify. This is crucial because there is no dietary source of glutathione, and it cannot be directly administered--it must be created by the body itself, out of the proper ingredients! Solvent Remover provides those ingredients, and a few more in addition to further increase detoxification.
Detox Nutrient Packs Dramatically Increase Your Body's Detox Potential
When the three supplements are taken together, your body's ability to detoxify itself is dramatically increased. All of the important enzymatic pathways for phase I and phase II detoxification are restored, and your body is further protected against them being depleted once more.
All of the ingredients in the Detox Nutrient Packs are clinically-tested and proven to be effective. When you supply your body with the right ingredients to detoxify, the road back to health becomes much straighter and simpler, allowing you to achieve your goals faster. Even more important, the Detox Nutrient Packs provide protection against re-toxification. We are bombarded on a daily basis by toxins in the air, food, and water, and the Detox Nutrient Packs help ensure they have a minimal effect on our lives and health.
Thorne's Detox Nutrients Packet can be found in the PEERtrainer Shop.
They are also a part of the kits that are sold as part of the PEERtrainer Fresh Start Cleanse. (For people who continue on to maintenance mode, we highly recommend buying the Detox Nutrient Kits when you purchase additional shakes. In fact, we have provided an exclusive discount that becomes available when you place a shake order.)
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