Detoxification

Detoxification refers to treatments, techniques, diets, special food products, fasting, therapies, machines, supplements, and enemas that are used to supposedly “enhance, activate or assist” the natural body processes that eliminate toxins. Detoxification is based on the principle that illnesses can be caused by the accumulation of toxic substances (toxins) in the body. Some practitioners believe “detoxing” is helpful to counteract symptoms due to immune system reactions.

Chelation is the process of removing a heavy metal from the bloodstream. Because there is no evidence chelation prevents or alleviates disease, the therapy is contraindicated for Marshall ProtocolA curative medical treatment for chronic inflammatory disease. Based on the Marshall Pathogenesis. (MP) patients.

There is no official stance on other forms of detoxification, but patients are advised to be skeptical of any treatment that alters the body's natural enzymatic pathways. MP patients should consult their physicians for guidance.

The Th1 diseasesThe chronic inflammatory diseases caused by bacterial pathogens. are caused by the plethora of bacterial pathogens, not by heavy metals.

Chelation is the process of removing a heavy metal from the bloodstream by means of binding the metal with an organic ligand. There is limited evidence that chronic inflammatory disease is driven by the accumulation of heavy metals such as mercury.

Patients who have spent time in an area of heavy metal contamination are advised to avoid such areas in future. An early patient who had worked continuously with heavy metal contamination in presence of volatile solvents, found recovery on MP was limited. Anyone in a similar position should test blood levels of those contaminants. If chelation is deemed necessary, it may be better to do this before MP rather than after.

Small amounts of heavy metals are excreted naturally. see below

It is not possible to design a chelation agent that will target mercury, for example, and not target other bivalent metals, including iron and calcium, to some degree. There is very little selectivity in the chelating agents, despite what the manufacturers would have you believe. A bivalent metal is a bivalent metal.

We have seen no evidence that the folk in our cohort who have undergone chelation during their MP treatment have progressed faster, indeed, I seen some who have dropped out and stayed with the chelation (palliative) approach. When the immune system has been restored by the MP, the heavy metals will be properly excreted without any specific intervention.

Trevor Marshall, PhD

Patients considering having their mercury fillings removed should consult with their dentist.

While this may change in time, there is currently no conclusive indication from clinical or molecular data that the great majority of detoxification treatments do anything of benefit.

The liver removes harmful substances such as ammonia and toxins from the blood and then breaks them down or transforms them into less harmful compounds. Toxins are excreted through the skin and bowel. Nothing extraordinary need be done to promote these normal body functions…. Most of the body's healing processes work better if they are left alone.

Trevor Marshall, PhD

Also, without precise knowledge of how “detoxification” therapies work at the molecular level, the treatments have the potential of being dangerous.

“Detox” therapy is a dangerous undertaking for a Th1 patient. It is not really “detoxing” the body so much as it is messing around with the enzymatic and hepatic systems in ways that nobody has ever properly explored.

Trevor Marshall, PhD

Natural Standard, an evidence-based database for integrative medicine recently concluded (access requires a subscription) there are no studies on detoxification which qualify for listing in its online resource.