What compels a person to set out on a journey toward improving their health? Often, it is not a major health crisis but a collection of symptoms that have accumulated over time.
Are Supplements Alone Enough?
It is basic human nature that when we make a change, we want to experience positive results as quickly as possible. This makes it tempting for many people to start taking certain supplements right away, even if they have not yet seen a doctor. In many cases, this is—or seems—relatively benign. It may even produce enough results to motivate a person to continue making changes. But is this approach the optimal path toward health and wellness?
Iron, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, and vitamin B (especially B12)—these nutrients are the most commonly deficient in humans worldwide. It is unsurprising, then, that supplements for vitamin D, calcium, and iron are particularly popular.
High-quality supplements clearly have a place in the wellness goals of most of the population, but they are likely an incomplete approach to health, given our increasingly complicated world.
Additionally, the rising awareness among the general population of the connection between gut health and other areas of health has sent many a health-conscious consumer on a quest to ingest all the prebiotics and probiotics that their food and supplements can offer. Again, for many, these initial efforts are relatively innocuous and may provide some detectable and moderately positive results.
- According to the journal Gastroenterology, around thirty percent of probiotic users report regularly taking a probiotic supplement without a recommendation from a doctor.
- Studies from Harvard and the National Institutes of Health indicate that many of those who regularly consume probiotics report an improvement in their digestive health and in the symptoms related to chronic health concerns.
- CNN reported in September 2024 that one in three US adults has an iron deficiency, evidencing the need for iron supplements.
- The New York Academy of the Sciences estimates that around 3.5 billion people worldwide suffer from hypocalcemia and could benefit from regular use of calcium supplements.
- Similarly, vitamin D deficiency is impacting nearly half the population in America, and accordingly, vitamin D is consistently one of the most-purchased health supplements in the country.
These examples are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to common nutrient deficiencies in the population. High-quality supplements clearly have a place in the wellness goals of most of the population, both nationally and abroad.
The Ubiquity of Environmental Toxins
It would be foolish to throw the baby out with the bath water, but these patient-initiated steps toward health are likely an incomplete approach, given our increasingly complicated world.
We are daily confronted with environmental toxins that easily reduce the effectiveness of our attempts at minimizing or curing unpleasant symptoms while causing similar issues themselves. This is where caring and competent functional medical professionals have an increasing opportunity to help their communities attain true and lasting health improvements. Before we start supplementing, it is crucial to have a grasp on what is happening in our patients’ systems so that we are addressing the underlying causes of their symptoms.
Heavy Metals, Runoff, and Microplastics in Our Water
It is nearly impossible to read a health headline and not learn about a new source of contamination or environmental toxin. Consider the recent concerns about lead contained in the insulation of vacuum-sealed beverage containers.
Though most manufacturers carefully seal the lead inside stainless steel, it became an overnight concern that your water cup could be killing you. Well, it’s true that your water cup could be introducing toxins to your body, but the bigger risk comes from the water itself, not the cup.
Any patient who walks into your office may be regularly exposed to lead.
Across the country, all fifty states still have lead water-service lines, meaning that any patient who walks into your office may be regularly exposed to lead, and there is no safe level of lead exposure. Additionally, industrial waste contributes mercury and arsenic to the water supply in many places.
Anyone who is working to stay hydrated is likely consuming some small amount of these heavy metals.
Water also carries agricultural herbicide and pesticide runoff, endangering aquatic ecosystems—and people. Further, the increasing prevalence of microplastics means that there is less and less water on the planet that is not contaminated with these microscopic bits of plastic.
Emissions, VOCs, and Particulates in Our Air
Water may be our planet’s lifeblood, but one of the greatest areas of toxic exposure is in the air we breathe.
For those who live outside of major metropolises, it might be tempting to think that air pollution is a problem in New York or Los Angeles but not in your tidy little suburb. But the airflow that cools your brow as you work in your garden or take a bike ride to the park is blown by the same wind that pushes through those more populous spaces.
One of the greatest areas of toxic exposure is in the air we breathe.
Emissions from cars, emissions from manufacturing, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other particulates can be found anywhere. If you doubt the reach of air pollution, ask someone who lives even a hundred miles downwind of a forest fire.
Clearly, we cannot expect people to hold their breath to avoid taking in these contaminants and toxins, but we also cannot ignore these toxins and their impact when aiming to help our patients achieve their health goals.
PCBs, Byproducts, and Pesticides in Our Soil
Soil contamination continues to spread due in part to poorly managed industrial waste disposal and the runoff of pesticides.
When the water cycle kicks in, the rain that falls even many miles away from the source of contamination can be filled with things like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Dioxins, fertilizer byproducts, PCBs, and pesticides can have a costly impact on the soil quality and safety.
Food grown in polluted soil may be unsafe to eat or may fail to grow at all.
Landfills and mining industries have an outsized impact on the safety of the soil in nearby areas, but it does not take very long for that impact to spread further from the source. Food grown in polluted soil may be unsafe to eat or may fail to grow at all, causing possible food-borne toxicity (not to mention food insecurity).
Toxins Create More Problems Than Supplements Can Fix
No matter how the toxin is initially introduced to the body, the potential impact is astounding.
The CDC has measured over 400 environmental chemicals in human samples, some significantly more dangerous than others. Radiological exposure similarly impacts many people, especially radon and radioactive nuclear waste from medical, defense, scientific research, and mining applications.
The CDC has measured over 400 environmental chemicals in human samples.
These things are typically invisible to the naked eye, but their effects on a person’s body are much easier to see. The consequences of toxic exposure can be unique to each individual, however, and one person may react very differently from another to the same substance or exposure. Regardless, taking a supplement or trying to increase a nutrient in the diet is not going to adequately reverse the symptoms of toxic exposure, especially when a nutrient deficiency is erroneously blamed.
How to Track Down the Source of Your Patients’ Toxin-Related Symptoms
With toxic exposure symptoms ranging from itchy skin to kidney failure, difficulty breathing to infertility, and chronic fatigue to neurological disorders, it seems nearly impossible to know where to start to track down what could be harming the patient who walks through your door. Functional medicine practitioners are uniquely poised to look at holistic health and determine a plan of action that goes beyond “take two of these and call me in the morning.” Certainly, a high-quality supplement may be a beginning step, but how does a conscientious practitioner proceed in a way that honors the patient and respects their time?
A patient who had hoped that an iron supplement would help with their fatigue, or another who thought vitamin D might help her fertility, may be willing to let you pull out hair samples, trim fingernails for nail samples, provide a urine specimen, and anything else that you think might provide a clue. But some of these tests are time-consuming and costly and are unfortunately limited in which toxins they can test for.
Many environmental toxins can impact the findings in the most common types of tests—tests that you are already likely ordering.
We must learn how to look for clues as to which path to follow before running a battery of exotic tests. Fortunately, many environmental toxins can impact the findings in the most common types of tests—tests that you are already likely ordering. The comprehensive blood count (CBC), the comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), thyroid function, lipid levels, and blood glucose tests may each yield different hints on where to spend your time and resources to track down the source of dysfunction.
Learning what subtle changes to these blood tests might be expected for various types of toxic exposure can elevate your ability to effectively treat your patients.
Environmental Medicine and Toxin Assessment Master Class
Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, ND, is a dedicated naturopathic practitioner and the founding president of Bastyr University. His approach to science-based natural medicine has been groundbreaking, and his work in the area of toxic exposure and environmental medicine is revolutionizing the field once again.
Years of research and practice have yielded an understanding of how normal tests that are a common part of any annual physical can provide valuable information about which toxins may be undermining the well-being of patients, and he is educating other practitioners to do the same.
This revolutionary approach means having the ability to identify when toxic exposure may be causing or contributing to the health struggles of an individual with no unnecessary extra testing, screening, or wasted time—time that is precious to a patient moving toward greater health and wellness. Click here to learn more about and register for Dr. Pizzorno’s Environmental Medicine and Toxin Assessment Master Class.
