Centuries-Old Detoxification Procedure Reduces Banned PCBs and Agrochemicals in Blood by 50 Percent, Study Shows

Toxic occupational and agricultural chemicals that are stored in the body-and known to cause disease-can be significantly reduced by an Ayurvedic detoxification procedure, according to a report released today.

The study, published in the Sept./Oct. 2002 issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, found that a centuries-old purification procedure derived from the Ayurvedic medical system of India reduced several fat-soluble toxicants by about 50 percent.

"This is the first published study on humans to demonstrate that a specific detoxification regimen can significantly reduce levels of lipophilic toxicants in the blood that are known to be associated with disease," says Robert Herron, Ph.D., lead author of the study...

Eighty-eight subjects, age 45 years and older, participated in the cross-sectional study: Blood samples from both groups were sent to the Analytical Laboratory in the Department of Environmental Health at Colorado State University that was blind to the treatment status of the subjects.

The results showed blood levels of PCBs and several pesticides were significantly lower (46 TO 58 percent) in the detoxification group than in the controls. Without this intervention, the expected drop over two months would be only a fraction of one percent. 

Previous studies show that these toxicants have been associated with hormone disruption, immune system suppression, reproductive disorders, several types of cancer, and other diseases.

"Our findings were quite striking, given that the half-lives of these toxicants are all several years in duration, and that this comprehensive detoxification procedure removed them in just a few days." says Herron.

Herron says an alarming finding of the study was that PCB and DDE levels appear to be unexpectedly high in the general population, and may actually be increasing.

"These toxicants were banned decades ago and were assumed to be declining to negligible levels in the U.S. population. Our findings, however, suggest that they are still entering the food chain and appear to be increasing in humans. One possible explanation is that produce imported to the U.S. from Mexico and Latin America may contain banned toxicants since these hazardous chemicals are still widely used for agriculture in those countries," says Herron.

Reference: Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, (Sept./Oct.
2002), Vol. 8, No. 5: pp. 93-103.