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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of toxins in the environment? If you envision things like plumes of billowing smoke infiltrating the air or hundreds of gallons of oil being leaked into the ocean, you’re certainly not wrong.
But these forms of environmental pollution and toxicity are only a piece of the puzzle. The truth is, the introduction of toxins into our environment can be much sneakier and much less obvious than you might think.
In this blog post we’re going to dive into exactly what environmental toxins are, what makes them so dangerous for your health, some of the most commonly encountered toxins, and most importantly – some steps you can take to protect yourself from these dangerous compounds.
Pollution is defined as the presence or introduction of a harmful or poisonous substance into the environment. Pollution can take many forms and be found in just about every nook and cranny of our environment. Let’s take a look at a few of the most concerning aspects of pollution contributing to environmental toxicity.
Air pollution is typically comprised of two distinct types of pollutants:1
Air pollution causes include both natural sources (like wildfires and dust storms) and man-made sources (like emissions from vehicles or the off-gassing of noxious chemicals). Air pollution is particularly troublesome because it’s nearly impossible to avoid and pollution can be spread far and wide as it drifts through the atmosphere.
And unfortunately, air pollution isn’t just isolated to our outdoor air – it can be a major problem indoors as well.
r PollutionNot only canpolluted air make its way indoors, but our homes, workplaces, and vehicles can be chock-full of their own unique air pollutants. Sources of indoor air pollution include things like air fresheners, toxin-filled cleaning products, beauty products, and even the very paint on your walls. Pair that with the fact that we tend to keep our windows and doors sealed up tight with limited air circulation, and you’ve got a recipe for some seriously polluted air.
In fact, studies have found that indoor air can be anywhere from 2 to a whopping 5 times more polluted than outdoor air!2
Water cycles throughout our world – drifting in the clouds, pouring down in a rainstorm, crashing in ocean waves, traveling through miles of underground pipes – until it eventually makes its way to your faucet. Along this cyclical journey, water can pick up a cocktail of pollutants.
These pollutants can include everything from heavy metals to pharmaceutical drugs and from noxious chemicals to particles of plastic.3,4
Our air and water certainly aren’t the only places we’re exposed to dangerous pollutants. But before we dive into some of the ways we’re exposed to these toxic compounds and how to avoid pollution, let’s first take a look at why these toxins are so concerning in the first place.
What are environmental toxins? Well, the compounds that contribute to pollution are also referred to as environmental toxins. An environmental toxin is a term used to label any compound that can disrupt or harm your health. Some of these compounds are natural, and some are man-made, but they all have a negative effect on your well-being.
Just some of the health consequences that have been directly linked to exposure to environmental toxins include:5,6,7,8
This is just scratching the surface of the health consequences of environmental toxins and how they contribute to your toxic burden (the total of accumulated toxins “burdening” your body at any given time). But how exactly can these tiny compounds possibly cause such serious and large-scale health issues? Well, it lies in their ability to function as what’s known as endocrine disruptors.
Your endocrine system is a complex network that controls and regulates your hormones – the crucial chemical messengers that your body relies on to communicate and coordinate just about every function in your body. Endocrine disruptors are any chemicals that interfere with your endocrine system’s ability to function properly.9
These endocrine disruptors can mimic, block, or hinder your hormones. This interference of your natural hormones has a domino effect and can throw your entire body off-kilter – eventually leading to some of the more serious health conditions listed above. Let’s explore some of the different types of environmental toxins that can disrupt your endocrine system and wreak havoc on your health.
There are literally thousands of environmental toxins out there. Currently, there are over 86,000 chemicals registered for use in commerce – with more chemicals coming online every day.10 While that number is staggering in and of itself, what’s really unsettling is the fact that in the U.S., over 62,000 chemicals were simply “grandfathered” in when the Toxic Substances Control Act was passed. That means these chemicals essentially got a free pass – with the government simply assuming they were safe with absolutely zero evidence to back up their safety claims.
The list of concerning chemicals is far too long and robust to cover in a single article, so let’s dive into some of the most well-known, well-researched, and common environmental toxins that can have the most consequential impacts on your health.
Phthalates aren’t a singular chemical, but rather a group of chemicals that are typically used to make plastics softer and more durable. This class of chemicals has been found to negatively impact fertility, the onset of puberty, and neurological development while promoting weight gain and insulin resistance.11
The problem with phthalates is that they are rampant and can be found in countless everyday products. In fact, we are exposed to these chemicals so regularly that phthalates have even been dubbed “the everywhere chemical”.12
Bisphenol A, or BPA, is another type of chemical primarily used in plastics. BPA is commonly used in containers that store food and beverages like water bottles as well as to coat the inside of metal products, like food cans, bottle tops, and water supply lines.13 BPA is known to mimic the hormone estrogen – binding to estrogen receptors and contributing to things like impaired energy production, infertility, hormonal imbalances, and cancer.14
As the name implies, microplastics are microscopic fragments of plastic. You see, plastic takes an incredibly long time to truly break down and biodegrade. So rather than quickly decomposing, plastic just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces – until it becomes microplastic.
As plastic breaks down, it releases microplastics in water, air, and soil – making it nearly impossible to avoid them. These tiny flecks of plastic can then make their way into your bloodstream, cells, and tissues. In fact, it’s not uncommon for microplastics to be found in human blood when samples are taken.
The problem with these microplastics infiltrating our bodies is that once they make their way within us, they begin leaching out their cocktail of harmful toxins that include phthalates, BPA, and a plethora of other endocrine disrupting chemicals.15
What are forever chemicals? Forever chemicals are more formally known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – or PFAS. This group of chemicals is known for their nonstick, stain-repellent, and waterproof properties – making them highly useful in products ranging from non-stick pans to stain-resistant carpets.16 While PFAS may be highly useful, their effects on our health aren’t quite so glamorous.
PFAS have been linked to thyroid issues, immune system dysregulation, decreased birth weights, and various types of cancer.17 And thanks to their persistent ability to stick around and remain in the environment indefinitely, these chemicals have earned the name “forever chemicals”.
Now that you have a basic understanding of a few of the most common environmental toxins, you’re probably wondering how and where you’re potentially coming into contact with them. Some of the most common sources of environmental toxin exposures come from:
Plastic water bottles and plastic food containers can be major sources of toxin exposure. You see, when food or water is stored in plastic, the line between plastic and food or water can become blurred – with the plastic molecules leaching their way into your food and water. That means you can end up with an array of toxic chemicals like BPA and phthalates in food and water you’re consuming.
This process of plastic molecules seeping into your food or water can be sped up by things like heat, oil, and acidity.
If you stroll down the beauty aisle in your local drug store, you’ll more than likely find a laundry list of toxic ingredients in beauty products and personal care products that line the shelves. If that long list of hard-to-pronounce chemicals isn’t scary enough, under U.S. law, cosmetic and personal care companies aren’t even technically required to disclose all of the ingredients they put in their products.
That means there could be even more health-disrupting toxins packed into your personal care and beauty products than those listed. This is particularly troublesome considering the average person uses anywhere from 6-12 personal care and/or cosmetic products every single day.
While mold may not be a man-made chemical, this all-natural fungus is a potent environmental toxin. You see, certain strains of mold produce a class of toxic metabolites known as mycotoxins that can infiltrate your body and cause a whole host of dangerous side effects.
Mold toxins are particularly concerning because mold is exceedingly common in homes and buildings and can be difficult to detect to the untrained eye. To learn more about mold toxicity and what to do about it, head over and check out our article The Connection Between Chronic Disease and Mold Exposure.
Water is one of our most basic survival needs. But unfortunately, if you’re getting it straight out of the tap, you’re getting a whole lot more than just water. Tap water is notorious for being polluted with environmental toxins ranging from pharmaceutical drugs to pesticides and from heavy metals to harmful pathogens.
Drinking tap water isn’t the only way you can be exposed to these toxins. When tap water is heated and turns to steam, some of those toxins can become airborne – allowing them to be inhaled and delivered directly to your lungs.
Considering that most of us drink a hefty amount of water, boil and steam our food in water, and bathe in water on a daily basis, tap water can be a significant source of exposure to environmental toxins.
Our food can be saturated with toxic chemicals. Between fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and many food processing strategies, our food chain is one of the worst offenders when it comes to environmental toxins. And that’s just taking into consideration natural foods like fruits, veggies, nuts, and animal products.
If you start diving into the ingredients list on many processed and refined foods, you’ll find even more toxic additives that can skyrocket your exposure to these toxic compounds.
So, if environmental toxins are coming at us from every angle, what on earth can we do about it? How can we possibly dodge this barrage of pollution and environmental toxins? While it’s impossible to entirely avoid environmental toxins, there are some steps you can take to drastically reduce your exposure. Just a few strategies you can implement include:
Implementing strategies to reduce your exposure to environmental toxins is always the first step when it comes to protecting yourself from these harmful compounds. Only once you’ve addressed your exposure levels should you then look at how you can enhance detoxification to remove any accumulated toxins from your body.
So, what’s the best way to remove toxins from your body? In simplest terms, the best way to remove any built-up toxins is to give your body the support it needs to supercharge your own all-natural, built-in detoxification mechanisms. You see, detoxification is a complex, body-wide, and cyclical process that is continuously working behind the scenes to help you remove toxins. So how can you boost these natural detoxification mechanisms and cleanse your body of toxins?
One of the simplest and most potent ways to support detoxification and help toxin cleanse your body is to ramp up the levels of some specific detox-enhancing nutrients such as:
These supplements are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to truly enhancing your body’s detoxification capabilities. The nitty-gritty details of exactly how detoxification works and how you can further support it are far too robust to go into in this article. But if you want to learn more about exactly how detoxification works, head over and check out our article Detoxification of the Body from Environmental Toxins.
Unfortunately, we live in an increasingly toxic world – with more and more toxins showing up in every nook and cranny of our environment on a daily basis. But the good news is, while we may not be able to do a whole lot about some of this larger-scale pollution on our own, we’re not simply at the mercy of our environment.
If you’re ready to tackle environmental toxins in your own life and implement some strategies to reduce your exposure to these harmful compounds, we’ve got you covered. In our free RHT Clean Living Guide, we dive deeper into the topic of environmental toxins and break down some simple yet powerful lifestyle tweaks you can make to drastically reduce your exposure to environmental toxins.
Once you’ve downloaded your free guide, head over and check out the blog and the podcast. We’ve got tons of value-packed resources with the world’s leading experts to help arm you with the tools and the know-how to protect yourself and your family from environmental toxins and create the abundantly healthy life you deserve.
Resources:
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