Jean-Louis Tu wrote:

> Maybe a certain degree of toxemia is natural.

Bruno's reflexion on this point :

As I will attempt to demonstrate below, abnormal molecules or "toxemia"
do exist in nature, in our foods as well as in our bodies, appearing "by
accident" under the effect of natural radiations.

The function of our immune system, and maybe one, or the, reason it
exists, is to handle these abnormal molecules.

In a human body, in the most natural circumstances, there is an average
of about 8.000 atomic disintegration of unstable (radioactive) atoms
every second (about 1/3 from natural carbon 14, 1/3 from natural
potassium 40 and 1/3 from a variety of other unstable elements, if my
memory is correct). These disintegrations generate new atoms, but also
some high energy alpha, beta or gamma radiations inside our body, which
can transform one or a few neighbouring molecules. This can therefore
possibly create abnormal molecules or "toxemia" inside our body. It is
to be noted however that the number of atoms in a 70 kilogram body is a
number with approximately 28 digits. The number of disintegrations
(about 8000 per second = 25 00000 00000 per year) which is probably more
than the number of abnormal molecules generated (a proportion of the
molecules that appear may be normal) is therefore very small, relatively
to the total number of molecules in the body.

A natural radioactively-induced "endogenic" toxemia therefore exists,
but is very small : each molecule in our body has approx. one chance out
of 10 00000 00000 000 to turn into a toxine each year by this mechanism,
if my calculations are correct.

Much more intense however is the effect of external radiations that we
receive from outer space (cosmic rays), from the earth (tellurian
radiations) and especially from the sun. The alpha rays will be stopped
by our clothing if any (or produce effect on the skin if no clothing),
the beta rays will not go deeper than skin level, but can produce
effects at that level, while the natural ultra-violet rays, X-rays and
gamma rays can penetrate deep in the tissues and can produce natural
toxemia by violently hitting and transforming some of the molecules in
our body. The predominating effect among those, by far, if exposed, is
that of solar exposure. Cosmic and tellurian rays are of a much smaller
magnitude.

Sorted by the order of their "toxemic" effect we therefore have :

cosmic radiations (other than solar) - natural radioactiviy of the human
body (8.000 disintegrations per second) - tellurian radiations - solar
radiations, especially if exposed.

All these radiations can produce molecular changes in the body, breaking
up useful molecules and creating "toxemia". The effect of the sun on
human genes for example, giving birth to skin cancer in case of
excessive exposure, is the most documented.

These effects however are not just negative, solar rays being absolutely
necessary for the development of life, quite useful for example in the
metabolism of vitamin D. Those too much exposed to solar radiations have
health problems, those not exposed at all also. The optimal level of
solar and cosmic radiations to be exposed to is somewhere in between the
extremes of 0 and "too much". The question is "how can we know what is
the optimal level of radiation to be exposed to ?" Instinct may be a
good way, at least I believe so, to determine the best amount of sun
necessary for our health and satisfaction. Have you noticed how pleasant
the first exposure to the sun can be after winter ? And how unpleasant
it can feel to stay in the sun too long on a hot summer day ? It seems
there are "GO" and "STOP" signals run by pleasure for sun exposure in a
similar way as our instinct gives indications - by pleasure - for the
choice of foods. Instinctive sun-tanning, so to say.

The cosmic and solar rays not only hit our body, they can also produce
abnormal molecules in the fruits, plants and foods destined to be eaten,
especially in the sunny tropical countries. The high energy radiations
will exactly in the same way violently break up molecules in the fruits
and give birth to toxines or new abnormal molecules that can create
"toxemia" in our body by ingestion of these foods.

As radiations are everywhere in nature and can not (and probably should
not - trees and plants wouldn't grow and the human body isn't healthy
without at leat some solar exposure) be avoided, it is certain that
there is a natural toxemia generated both inside our own body (at very
small scale) and at higher magnitudes, by the sun exposure in our body
and in the foods we eat before we ingest them.

Due to the high energy of some of these rays and to the complexity of
the molecular reactions they can produce, it is highly likely that a
percentage of abnormal molecules appear under the effect of these rays.

I therefore believe that there is indeed a natural "toxemia" even in the
most instinctive, primitive, natural circumstances.

This may be one, if not the main, reason why we have an immune system
that has developed to cope with these abnormal molecules randomely
generated. However, cooking or modern processing of the food by far
exceeds the effect of natural radiation exposure, and therefore eating
such foods by far exceeds the coping capacity of our immune system
equiped to eliminate only natural levels of toxemia, but not the much
higher level of toxemia due to cooked and modern foods.

Sincerely yours. With best regards.

Bruno.