Prepare to have your health questions answered
here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions with
Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center
in downtown Ventura. Now, here's Dr. Todd. Good
afternoon. I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board -certified
doctor of non -force chiropractic and practitioner
of functional medicine. Functional medicine means
using standard diagnostic tests to identify conditions
that often give... get overlooked by the standard
practice of medicine because most doctors don't
order these tests unless there's a compelling
reason for it. And usually there isn't. So for
example, I'm going to talk a little bit later
about a man in his 60s that came in with low
energy and sleep problems, which I was able to
help him with. And he came back a few months
later with a horrible rash covering his entire
neck and back and arms and hands. And he'd been
to several other doctors and nobody was helping
him. So we'll come back to that. Last week I
was talking about synergistic toxins when we
ran out of time. Synergistic, usually the context
of that word comes up to do with synergistic
nutrients. So, for example, all nutrients, the
nutrients in food, the nutrients in supplements,
work not in isolation. like drugs and chemicals,
but they work in combinations synergistically.
Synergistic means things that work together,
work in combinations. But toxins also can do
damage together in combinations, much worse than
those things do on their own. And that's what
this evolving term, relatively new term, is new
to me. It's being used in the literature, but
it's fairly new. Synergistic. Synergistic toxicity
is when the combined effect of multiple chemicals
is more harmful than the sum of the effects of
each chemical alone. So I'm going to say that
again. Synergistic toxicity is when the combined
effect of multiple chemicals is more harmful
than the sum of the effects of each chemical
alone. So chemicals that we're exposed to, 350
,000 of them, I think. are in circulation currently
they're supposedly tested many of them are tested
but all of them when tested are tested and are
usually a relatively healthy population and one
at a time always one at a time and this can be
dangerous because chemicals are designed to work
on their own and but when they're tested all
by themselves then you have no idea what the
effect is in real life on a person who may not
be perfectly healthy, and a person like all of
us who are constantly exposed to thousands of
chemicals all at once, never just one at a time.
So these toxins can be damaging to the liver,
cause mitochondrial damage. They can cause oxidative
stress. That's the stress that we're trying to
alleviate when we take antioxidants, like all
the antioxidant nutrients in fruits, some vegetables.
Toxins also drive inflammatory responses throughout
the body, exacerbate all kinds of conditions,
heart disease, cancer, skin conditions, allergies.
And science, the study of these effects, is relatively
new. It is an emerging science. An article published
a little over a year ago in a toxicology journal
called Current Opinion in Toxicology found that
the prevailing assumption that if you know the
presumably mild toxic effects of chemical A,
and the effects of chemical B, you simply add
those to predict or estimate the toxic effects
of combining them. And it kind of makes sense.
If this toxin is relatively mild and this one
over here is also relatively mild, then you should
still be okay even if you're exposed to both
of them because they're both relatively mild.
And that is not a safe assumption in many, many
cases. So there's not enough data to document.
Well, there's only enough data to document a
few of those so far. More and more are being
identified as we go. And so, for example, this
found that that assumption that the toxic effects
of certain chemicals are additive, that you just
know the effects of one, you know the effects
of another, you can just add them together to
get an estimate of how toxic both would be in
combination. They found that this is dangerously
erroneous. The magnitude of synergistic effects
of taking chemicals can be up to 100 -fold. In
other words, the physiological effects of combining
exposure to two known toxins can be 100 times
worse than what might have been predicted by
simply adding the two known effects together.
So there's little literature available with the
specifics currently. This paper outlines numerous
reasons to suggest that the limited data that
is available suggests that the frequency and
likelihood of synergies from combined toxins
in real -world situations It is much worse than
people often assume. So the introduction states,
all living systems, including humans, are sequentially
and simultaneously exposed to complex mixtures
of chemicals. So sequentially and simultaneously.
So we're all exposed to many, many chemicals
over time and all at the same time. And there's
over 350 ,000 man -made chemicals and mixtures
of chemicals that have been registered for production
and use. And the myriad byproducts, metabolites,
and transformation products are not included
in that figure. So in other words, there's 350
,000 registered chemicals. And those have myriad
byproducts, metabolites, and transformation products
that they undergo and their various uses and
the ways that we're exposed to them. And they're
not included. in that figure. The article goes
on to state the scientific understanding of mixture
effects has advanced in recent years, as has
the development of methods to assess risks from
combined exposures. Nonetheless, the almost infinite
number of real -life mixtures poses major challenges
for investigations of all possible exposure scenarios
through mixture and component -based approaches.
So I know this is getting kind of technical.
Regulatory systems were designed to address single
substances through different jurisdictions, often
aligned with specific uses, applications, or
processes, rather than co -exposure to multiple
chemicals regulated under different legislative
silos. Still awake? So I know it's necessarily
kind of technical to discuss some of this stuff,
but the mechanisms they use to analyze available
studies identify... combinations of various toxins,
and among these are the synergistic potential
of combinations of triazine, pririthroid pesticides
in environmentally relevant doses, and they were
surprised to find synergisms with endocrine -disrupting
chemicals such as phthalates, particularly those
that disrupt testosterone. They also found synergisms
at low doses for mixtures of organophosphate
pesticides, thyroid -disrupting chemicals, and
carcinogenic solvents. So mostly this paper is
demonstrating that the hundreds of studies that
are commonly cited to suggest that these chemicals
are mostly safe and don't have synergistic effects
are totally inadequate to back up. those assertions.
The studies are so poorly designed to even identify
the effects of combining toxins that they simply
shouldn't be allowed to make the claims that
they make. Another known phenomenon in chemistry,
which is only beginning to be studied in environmental
exposures, is potentiation. Potentiation, where
a supposedly inert substance combines with a
known mild toxin to make it much more toxic than
previous thought. Additionally, living organisms
during their lifetimes must often cope with environmental
stress, which is different than the optimal conditions
used in ecological experimental settings. So
a review of over 150 studies covering stressors
like heat, cold, desiccation, oxygen depletion,
and exposure to pathogens and immune compromising
factors, combined with a variety of environmental
pollutants, revealed. that synergistic interactions
between the effects of various natural stressors
and toxicants were reported in more than 50 %
of the available studies. So basically they're
saying that living human beings have stressors
that make us more susceptible at various times
due to various forms of stress to any kind of
chemical exposure. and they found indications
of that in some of these studies, but more data
is needed. So their politely worded conclusion
is, quote, based on the evidence available to
date, assumptions that center interactions in
real -life mixtures are rare, and their likelihood
being therefore negligible appears to be premature.
Said in plain English, we have no idea how all
the chemicals we're bombarded with interact with
one another. The few studies that have been done
on individual chemicals are in and of themselves
inadequate by design to give us any reasonable
comfort in their safety because they totally
ignore the very real world synergistic effects
of combining chemicals in a living human being
as well as the various stressors that can make
one human being more susceptible to the effects
of these chemicals than another. So the takeaway
is to protect ourselves. spend $200 or $300 getting
a urine test to measure the toxins that you've
been exposed to. So I do these on hundreds of
patients over the years. The results of these
types of tests enable me to recommend various
things that you can do to help your body safely
flush out the chemicals you've been exposed to.
And to be honest, the other benefit of doing
the test is it'll motivate you to do the things
that you need. Once you've seen the data, you
see it printed on the test results, then, oh,
my God, where did that come from? People are
always surprised. I'm never surprised. Anytime
I do these tests, no one ever comes up perfectly
clean. We're all exposed to this stuff. But nonetheless,
anytime I do tests for toxins, be it chemical
toxins, pesticides, fertilizers, mold toxins,
heavy metal toxins, which can be done with a
urine test or a hair test, people are always
surprised at the results. Oh, my God, where did
that come from? Well, they're ubiquitous in the
environment. can't avoid, can never completely
avoid exposure to these things. But exposure
does vary. Your genetic ability to naturally
flush these things out varies a lot. So two people
side by side in the same household, same genes,
family members, whatever, can be exposed to the
same level of a certain combination of toxins
and have totally different experience because
one is genetically... better equipped to flush
those things out. One is getting more nutrients,
a better diet, better exercise to sweat. Sweat
helps you excrete toxins. There are a whole host
of factors that determine how badly you've been
exposed to these various things and how equipped
you are to safely, efficiently flush them out
all the time. So that's what the testing will
do, show you where you are now and identify some
things that you can do. to help flush out the
burden of things that you're carrying around.
And invariably, you feel better. People commonly
report increased energy, mental clarity, and
focus. Your brain is the most sensitive organ
to any toxin or nutrient deficiency anywhere
in your body. So it's good for anybody to get
tested for toxins, heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides,
fertilizers, mold toxins. And taking things like
binding agents. chlorella, a blue -green algae,
something called modified citrus pectin. These
are among the things, as well as just getting
good source of minerals in general in your diet.
Chlorella in and of itself is a good source of
minerals, but so is eating dark green leafy vegetables
like spinach and broccoli and kale. And combine
this with clean filtered drinking water. Clean
fruits and vegetables in your diet can help you
remove and bombarded with. I'm Dr. Todd Binkley.
You're listening to Safe, Effective, Natural
Solutions to Almost Any Health Challenge. Last
week I finished the show talking briefly about
the Dirty Dozen, Fruits and Vegetables in the
Clean 15. These are lists of fruits and vegetables
that have been tested for the most and least
amount of a number of known pesticides on them.
These lists are published by the Environmental
Working Group in the U .S., EWG .org, but a similar
program in the United Kingdom does it slightly
differently. It's called the Pesticide Action
Network. or Pan UK, and it has a really well
-done website for helping people understand the
sources and effects of these things. And it reads,
Are you concerned about pesticide residue in
your foods? Do you hope to make informed choices
when you're shopping? This organization has investigated
and compiled an up -to -date list of the dirtiest
fruits and vegetables most likely to contain
cocktails of multiple pesticides. The best option
is always to buy organic or pesticide -free.
That's not always possible, so this list can
help you figure out which one has the most residues
on it. So the UK government tests roughly 3 ,000
kilograms of food for pesticide residues each
year. And once the results are published, Pan
UK analyzes this data and makes it accessible
to the general public by producing the annual
Dirty Dozen. So, in short, pesticides are poisons
created to kill living organisms, and they're
commonly referred to as weed killers, insecticides,
fungicides, etc. When food growers cultivate
produce on a large scale to supply stores, it's
quicker and cost -effective for them to spray
these chemicals to ensure the growing season
isn't impacted. But certain fruits and vegetables
are also much more attractive. to certain pests
than others are, meaning a range of produce is
likely to be more heavily sprayed than others
in order to prevent them from being damaged.
So in order to do so, these pesticides can leach
into the foods we eat, and it's important to
protect ourselves from these, otherwise we're
putting these toxins into our body. They go on
to stress that certain groups of people are more
susceptible to the effects of pesticides, especially
young children and expectant. Exposure to certain
pesticides at critical stages in development
can interfere with organs and their functions,
particularly endocrine -disrupting chemicals
that affect hormone systems and have been associated
with learning disabilities, attention deficit
disorder, and brain development problems. And
then they also talk about the cocktail effect.
The government sets safety limits for just one
pesticide at a time, ignoring the growing body
of evidence that chemicals can become more harmful.
when combined. So this is a phenomenon they're
calling the cocktail effect. Synergistic toxicity
is the technical term. And this not only ignores
the potential risks to human health associated
with pesticide mixtures found on one item, but
also those found in one dish, such as a salad,
let alone an entire day's worth of food. Unlike
the US, this UK organization does not produce
a clean 15 list of foods with lower exposure
because they believe that the government testing
program is so limited they don't want to give
the impression that certain fruits and vegetables
are free from pesticide residue and show no potential
harm to human health or the environment when
such contamination is still. So in the U .S.,
we have the dirty dozen and the clean 15. In
the U .K., they only have the dirty dozen because
they want people to know that even the others,
you still need to rinse your food. But basically,
that's what it comes down to. What does all this
mean? What are we supposed to do with this information?
Well, the main thing is to clean your fruits
and vegetables before you eat them. But, you
know, time is limited. Not everyone's going to
remember to clean everything they eat before
they eat it. And sometimes it's, you know, maybe
not as important. So the ones that are most important
to rinse thoroughly are... In the typical Dirty
Dozen list, which changes from year to year because
these are based on direct testing of food that
ends up in stores. And so the different spraying
techniques and the seasons, the growing seasons,
the weather, the amount of pesticides that are
put on chemicals is not exactly the same in all
places at all times. It varies so that the list
of the Dirty Dozen changes each year. But the
ones that appear at the top of the list every
year recurringly are strawberries, peaches, grapes,
nectarines, cherries, apples, cucumbers, tomatoes.
potatoes apricots notice these are all fruits
with thin skins also lettuce celery peppers pears
and potatoes these are the most important fruits
and vegetables to thoroughly clean before consuming
so strawberries peaches grapes nectarines cherries
apples cucumbers tomatoes apricots lettuce celery
peppers pears and potatoes that's a little bit
more than a dozen and you can anytime if you
forget you want to refer to this again just google
an image search for the dirty dozen and you'll
see a picture listing these various lists that
are that are tested for every year So in the
U .S., the Environmental Working Group also lists
the Clean 15. And this is probably a good idea,
especially if you know you're not rinsing all
of your fruits and vegetables and you want to
know the ones that are maybe less important to
do so. And they are. The Clean 15 always includes
things like avocados, pineapple, sweet peas,
asparagus, papayas, eggplant, grapefruit, cauliflower,
sweet corn, cabbage, onions, mangoes. kiwi, cantaloupe,
and honeydew melons, broccoli, and mushrooms.
So these are foods that are less important to
thoroughly rinse before consuming because they're
more resistant to pests on their own, so the
growers don't spray as many pesticides on them.
Another common question I get is what's the best
way to wash the fruits and vegetables? So you
should, this is from the National Pesticide Information
Center at Oregon State University. They recommend
washing fruits and vegetables even if you don't
plan to eat the skin. Wash your hands with soap
and warm water before and after handling the
fresh fruits and vegetables. And then hold the
fruit under flowing water or in a strainer. So
this is important. A lot of people think, oh,
I need to soak. fruits and vegetables to, to
dissolve those things and get them up. They're
actually really easy to rinse off. And the important
thing is you want to rinse them off so that that
stuff that you're rinsing off will go down the
drain and you get it out of there. Soaking is
actually not a good idea. You don't need to soak
them to get the things to, you know, get to loosen
the. the stuff from the surface. It's better
to use a colander for berries or anything that'll
fit that's, you know, not a big chunk of like
a big cauliflower or broccoli. It's easy just
to hold it. Smaller things, put in a colander
to strain them. But the point is, the best way
is just to hold them under running water to rinse
the things off. You do not need to and it's not
recommended to wash fruits and vegetables with
soap or detergents or commercial produce washes
or baking soda, any of these things. especially
soap because soap can actually leave a film and
cause some of the things to stick to the get
stuck in the film and you're not rinsing it off
it's just making it adhere more so these these
things are actually they've tested they test
this in the lab they test these various washing
methods and the jury is in the the easiest way
is just to hold it under running water and rinse
it off. Some things, like with a thicker skin,
like melons and potatoes, it's okay to clean
with it, or if they have a lot of dirt on them
especially, with a little brush, scrubbing them,
scrubbing the firm fruits can help get more of
the residues off. And things that are softer,
like grapes or some other things that are, you
don't want to use a brush but feel sticky, or
if you still suspect that you're not getting
it all off just by rinsing, you can rub them
while holding them underwater. And the fragile
things like berries. them in a colander. So you
can also discard the outer leaves of leafy produce
like lettuce and cabbage and peel things that
can be peeled like peaches or apples. Of course,
it's better to rinse them because there's lots
of nutrients just in the skin and just beneath
the skin. Heating can help get rid of residues
from some things, but you might be getting rid
of some nutrients as well. And there's no method
of washing produce that is 100 % effective for
removing all pesticides residues. So that's why
it's important to just keep that in mind as a
general. We're all exposed to these things. And
it's not something that you want to waste time
worrying about. It's just something to be aware
of and do something about. So just know that
you're going to be exposed to small amounts of
these no matter what you do. And the best thing
for that is to eat the healthy fruits and vegetables
because the nutrients, especially the minerals
in healthy vegetables, are among the things that
your body uses to flush out toxins that you're
inevitably exposed to. Fruits and vegetables
in our own gardens in Southern California are
periodically and currently coated with a fine
coating of ash from aerial wildfires. So, you
know, get tested and just remember that we all
need to do something to help flush this stuff
out ongoingly. So I was going to talk about this
excellent case that I had. This man in his 60s
came in with low energy and difficulty sleeping.
And I did some testing and found some things
that he was deficient in and gave him. some supplements
to help sleep better, and he was doing great,
feeling great, very happy. I told him that I
suspected that, based on his case history, the
type of work that he had done and the places
that he had lived, I had very good reason to
believe that he was exposed to a lot of toxins,
and I recommended that we test heavy metal, chemical,
and mold toxins. Because I just knew that we
were going to find a lot of them. And that would
motivate him to do something about that. But,
you know, he was feeling good. And he said, yeah,
I want to do that sometime. I'll keep you posted.
And, you know, a few months go by. He hasn't
done that. But he comes back in sometime later.
I forget. It might have been a year later, a
few months later. And he's got this huge rash
all over his back, his neck, both arms, and both
hands. And it's just really, really nasty. Pussy,
red. pustules, oozing, slimy, painful, horrible
rash. And he's been to several other doctors.
He's been taking cortisol, steroids, creams,
everything his dermatologist can give him. Nothing's
helping it. And he's really, really upset. And
I said, well, you know, your skin is an organ
of elimination. Your skin, sweat glands, your
follicles help flush out. And so sweating is
something that anybody can do sometime, often
even for free, to help your body slowly flush
out toxins that you're exposed to. But anyway,
he really needed some help. And so I said, well,
we need to do that testing that I was talking
about before. And we did. We tested it. And he
had high mold toxins, high chemical toxins, and
high heavy metals. Just all kinds of stuff from
exposures, from the type of work that he was
doing mainly, but also just the area of the country
that he lived in. was noted for exposure. So
anyway, I put him on some nutrients, modified
citrus pectin, chlorella for heavy metals, some
other specific nutrients based on his testing.
And I told him it was going to take a while.
It took about six months to really make a huge
difference. And he was really upset because he
came back about three or four months later and
his rash was, you know. only slightly better.
I said, I told you it's going to take four to
six months, whatever it was. But then when he
came back after that period of time, his rash
was completely gone. After all kinds of cortisone
creams, no other doctors could help him, just
doing the healthy thing, flushing out the toxins
that his body was trying to flush out through
his skin. I removed them, and that was a couple
of years ago. He moved out of state, and I spoke
to him a few weeks ago, and he's still doing
great. As always, thank you for tuning in. We
are out of time. Have a fabulous weekend. Send
in your questions to drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter
.com. I look forward to speaking with you right
here next Friday at 2 p .m. See you then. You've
been listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions
with Dr. Todd Binkley. If you have a health question
you want discussed on the show, email your health
questions to drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter
.com. Take advantage of this opportunity to ask
questions for yourself. and for your loved ones
because our health matters. Join him next Friday
at 2 p .m. for safe, effective natural solutions
here on 98 .3 FM, The Word.