The following article presents my personal ideas about the concept of toxemia. It is by no means complete, so all reactions, comments, additions and criticisms are welcome. Best wishes, Jean-Louis [log in to unmask] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. ------------- The concept of toxemia, used by Natural Hygiene to explain all diseases, is, despite the lack of scientific foundation, common language in the vegetarian and the raw-food movement. While many other factors than diet can contribute to disease (micro-organisms, heredity, environmental or psychological factors), there is of course no doubt that with a proper nutrition, the occurrence of disease would greatly decrease. However, a diet can be "wrong" for may other reasons than toxicity. An obvious one is deficiency: a substantial percentage of the population, even in developed countries, is considered as malnourished (despite a calorie-adequate diet). And even the opposite, i.e. the excess of a certain substance, is not necessarily toxic in the sense Natural Hygienists understand it, i.e. producing withdrawal symptoms (like with drugs) and detoxification crisis (during which the toxins are supposed to be released). An excess of sugar, despite causing diabetes, is not considered as toxic since sugar is completely metabolized. The question of grains and dairy, which some people claim to cause detoxification symptoms, will be discussed later. In fact, the common belief is that the main toxins come from animal foods (and, more specifically, meat) and cooked food, both of which are addictive, and keep being detoxified for many years after switching to a "natural" diet. Plausibility. ------------- A good indication whether the concept is valid or not comes from other diets, like Paleolithic diets, which can claim to be at least as natural. It appears that no Paleo-dieter ever blames the detoxification of grains or dairy for any trouble, whereas raw vegetarians, and especially raw vegans, often complain about "detoxification" symptoms (usually weakness, emaciation or sensitivity to cold). One may argue that the cleansing process among Paleo-dieters is hindered by their consumption of animal food, but again, current research shows that meat can't be considered unnatural. Admittedly, there is a strong case against an excess of saturated fat, but after all, is a modern meat abnormally high in saturated fat more toxic than a modern fruit too rich in sugar? That the "toxemia" rhetoric provides an explanation where medicine fails is certainly not a proof of its validity. One cannot dismiss hundreds of volumes of scientific results without explaining in depth why they are wrong. A new theory should always integrate the old one. In addition, a theory has a scientific value only when supported by various experimental data and quantitative results. Instead, the language of Natural Hygiene always remains vague and ignores the advances of modern medicine. The theory of instinctive nutrition seems to adopt a more scientific language: the toxins have a name and their existence is clearly acknowledged (Maillard molecules), some references in the medical literature are provided, as well as explanations for auto-immune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis. While the theory is more attractive to a science-oriented mind, it remains largely speculative and lacks experimental backup. That Maillard molecules are toxic at the concentrations at which they appears in cooked food hasn't been proven. Some good results among instinctive eaters have certainly been obtained, but they may simply be due to the suppression of wheat and dairy, as well as heavily processed foods. In fact, it is thought that the main causes of multiple sclerosis are proteins from dairy, cereal grains, yeast, eggs and legumes, as well as a high level of saturated fat intake. See: http://aspin.asu.edu/msnews/emb11297.htm for more details. The wrong signs of detoxification. -------------------------------------------------------------------- We shall now discuss a few symptoms that are usually interpreted as detoxification: -------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Weakness, sensitivity to cold, emaciation are the main complaint of those who come to a predominantly raw diet, particularly among raw vegans. Even instinctos are not exempt because of their usually high fruit intake. In fact, people who begin a raw food diet with a moderate amount of carbohydrates and a fair amount of animal food are extremely rare, if existent at all. The "transition" period seems to be longer and more difficult for raw vegans than for those who include some animal food and/or some cooked foods in their diet. The fact that the body functions usuallly normalize after some time (which in some cases is a considerable amount of time) is certainly no proof that it is a detoxification process. The more likely explanation is that a high-roughage content diet is not well adapted to humans, and that, for some reason, the digestive systems adapts more or less to the new diet. 2) Allergic-like reactions Some people have noticed that the ingestion of a supposedly innocuous food, like watermelon, triggers allergic reactions (like runny nose), especially if grains were consumed in a recent period. The tempting explanation (that watermelon triggers the detoxification of grains) is of course not the only one. It is known that the presence of one allergen increases the sensitivity to other allergens, and that watermelon, like many other foods, contains allergens. >From [Jor-Wag]: "Cross-reactive allergens may be responsible for the clustering of food allergies seen in patients hypersensitive to fruits and vegetables. The pooled sera of six individuals were used to investigate cross-antigenicity among freshly prepared extracts of celery (Cy), cucumber (Cc), carrot (Ct), and watermelon (W). Each patient demonstrated clinical allergy to one or more study foods and, with the exception of Ct in two cases, had IgE to all four extracts by skin test or ELISA. In comparisons of each food against itself and the other three antigens, ELISA inhibition assays demonstrated allergenic similarity among Cy, Cc, Ct, and W by their similar slopes and 50% inhibition concentrations (2.0-7.3 micrograms/mL) [...] We conclude that Cy, Cc, Ct, and W possess shared antigens that may account for clustering of these food allergies in patients." >From [Ort]: "We have studied 262 patients suffering from hay fever and oral allergy syndrome after fruit and vegetable ingestion. The history and the results of RAST and skin test for pollen showed a contemporary presence of systemic and local symptoms in most of the patients; a close connection between age of onset of hay fever and oral allergy syndrome; a frequent association between allergy to some pollens and some vegetables, such as between apple, carrot, pear, cherry with birch pollen and tomato, melon, watermelon with grass pollen." See also [Enb]. 3) The common cold: is obviously not a detoxification reaction, but a disease caused by over 200 different viruses which mutate constantly (which explains why it is so difficult to find a vaccine). Colds and allergies produce similar symptoms (runny nose, etc), which probably explains why they are thought to be a detoxification process. 4) Bad breath has been extensively studied (its scientific name is "halitosis"), and many causes have been identified. cf. http://www.calpaclab.com/cbt/index.html among many other sites. 5) Metabolic changes during fasting. Some people believe that, since there are some metabolic changes during fasting, they must be caused by the detoxification process. However, most of the symptoms have been studied: a] Nitrogen excretion: From [Ru-Pa], "Body protein is used as a fuel throughout the period of fasting, functioning primarily as a source of raw material for gluconeogenesis. However, the utilization of this protein decreases as fasting continues, such regulation being essential because death occurs when one third to one half of the body protein has been depleted." Daily Urinary Nitrogen Excretion in a Male Subject During Fasting: Days of fasting | Grams of urinary nitrogen per 24 hours ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 13 7 | 10 14 | 8 21 | 6 28 | 5 35 | 4 b] Carbohydrate metabolism: from [Sam], "After fasting 24 hours or more, the blood glucose level is maintained at 60-70 mg/100 ml", although there is a lot of individual variability ([Key], p. 541). From [Key], p. 544, "there is an indication of [an] adaptative process [to starvation] in the blood sugar levels. This was shown in work with normal young men who were subject to a series of 5 4-day fasts undertaken at 1-month intervals, The blod sugar levels during hard physical work were slightly higher during the fifth fast than in the first. [...] The urinary excretion of acetone decreased when the starvation was repeated. A similar interpretation could be made in the case of dogs which exhibited during the second fast a more gradual weight loss and a much smaller nitrogen excretion than during the first experiment". >From [Sam], "In a normal man, during a fast of 2 or 3 days' duration, anout 180 g of glucose are produced in 24 hours. Of this the brain, spinal cord and nerves use about 140 g, and the red cells 30 g". c] Fat metabolism: the ketone bodies refer to 3 substances, acetoacetic acid, beta-hydroxybutyric acid and acetone, which are produced mainly by the liver and are used as a source of energy. People who are on ketosis, whether because they are fasting or on a ketogenic diet, expire acetone, which has a distinct odor. Conclusion ---------- The list presented above is by no means complete and many diseases are not (yet) fully understood by medical researchers. The possibility that toxemia plays a role cannot be ruled out completely, of course, but the point of the present article is that in many instances, "detox" is a too easy explanation, and a denial that anything could possibly be wrong with a diet that is perfectly adapted to the human biological design. References: ----------- [Enb] Enberg RN, et al. "Watermelon and ragweed share allergens". J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1987 Jun 1; 79(6): 867-875. PMID: 3584742; UI: 87223609. [Jor-Wag] Jordan-Wagner DL, et al., "Cross-allergenicity among celery, cucumber, carrot, and watermelon". Ann Allergy. 1993 Jul 1; 71(1): 70-79. PMID: 8328718; UI: 93319169. [Key] Keys et al., "The biology of human starvation", Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1950. [Ort] "The oral allergy syndrome". Ann Allergy. 1988 Dec 1; 61(6 Pt 2): 47-52. PMID: 3264668; UI: 89086737. [Ru-Pa] T. C. Ruch and H. D. Patton, "Physiology and biophysics III", Saunders 1973. [Sam] Samson Wright, "Applied physiology", 12th edition, Oxford University Press, 1971.