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Approaches to Detoxification

Overview – Environmental toxicity (organic pollutants and heavy metals) is a grave threat to health – your health and that of your descendents. Lifestyle factors (which you can alter) interact with genomic “weak links” (which we can analyze and help you accommodate) to determine at what age you will become ill (when the toxins will get to you). The most important thing that we can do (after getting you through an acute health care crisis) is to optimize your intracellular nutritional status, and then move Heaven and Earth to identify, and then remove, every toxic molecule from your body – to return your biochemistry to the pristine state that Evolution and/or Our Creator intended. These concepts are outlined below and are discussed in greater detail on heartfixer.com and in our presentations (YouTubes and information sheets are available to you).

Diagnosis – Which toxins do you bear and why do you retain them?

1. Genomic Analysis: While we can and will detoxify you without knowledge of your genomic status, an understanding of your inherited weak links will alter (and improve) our approach.

Methyl Cycle Nutrigenomics: The Methyl Cycle is the backbone of your biochemistry. Methyl Cycle defects prevent you from coping with environmental toxins, viral and bacterial invaders, and compromise proper reading of your genetic code. Chronic, difficult to explain disease states, neurodegenerative conditions involving the young and premature “age related” conditions, likely reflect an interaction between environmental toxins and Methyl Cycle predispositions. While we can’t change your DNA, if we know your weaknesses, we can create nutritional “work arounds”, improving your ability to detoxify and defend.

Detoxification Genomics: We vary in our ability to activate (Phase I) a toxin, and then to combine it with a chaperone molecule (Phase II) that escorts it out through the kidneys or GI tract. If we know your detox weak links then we can support them with specific supplements/dietary interventions.

Oxidative Stress Genomics: Here we look at, and then take steps to optimize, your intrinsic ability to neutralize the free radical oxidative stress that you are experiencing on the basis of your toxic burden.

We have an instruction sheet to help you obtain this data (starting with 23and me.com) which I can analyze, and then suggest “work arounds” for any genomic predispositions that you bear.

2. Organic Pollutants: These are non-metallic, fat-soluble molecules that bioaccumulate and compromise our physiology (and that of our offspring), particularly with respect to weight gain, diabetes, and neurologic disease. Agent Orange, phyllates, bisphenol A, pesticides, and petroleum products are a few of the 100s of organic pollutants to which we (and our Mothers) have been exposed to (yes, this stuff readily crosses the placenta). These molecules disrupt our endocrine system, lead to oxidative stress as we attempt to detoxify them, and produce rents in the cell membrane, facilitating metal ingress. Fat, liver, and nerve biopsies would give us the most complete measure of organic pollutant burden but obviously are not practical. We can estimate your tissue pollutant burden with:

A. The US BioTek organic pollutant screen looks at seven common organic pollutants and compares your personal levels against that of the rest of the US population. This $125 test is easily done at home (a dipstick is dipped in a morning urine sample and then sent to the lab).
Its downside is that it weighted more towards recent exposure then to chronic body burden.

B. The Genova Labs NutrEval and Metabolics studies give us markers of Styrene and Petroleum product exposure, along with a great deal of ancillary information regarding nutritional and detox function. NutrEval and Metabolics testing is covered by Medicare (not by Medicare Advantage plans); with commercial insurance the out-of-pocket co-pay is $170. This is the best single test in Metabolic Medicine.

3. Heavy Metals: Metals enter our tissues, bind to proteins, and leave only slowly - if at all (the half-life of mercury in the nervous system is 10-20 years). Metal exposure may vary, in relation to where you live and work, but as innate detox is so slow, metals bioaccumulate. Tissue levels rise with age, with a concomitant increase in your risk for metal-induced or metal-aggravated disease states (conditions associated with inflammation or oxidative stress – neurologic and cardiovascular). We need to estimate your body burden and then remove these elements that do nothing but harm. So how best to estimate the level of metal accumulation within your internal organs?

A. Blood levels reflect recent exposure, and are of value in monitoring lead exposure in kids, industrial exposure in adults, and in epidemiology studies. However, blood metal levels bear little relation to body burden, and are not of value in adult detoxification medicine.

B. Red cell metal levels tell us what your physiology has been exposed to over the preceding three months. Red cell metals (and minerals) is included in the NutrEval, or could be obtained for $160 from Drs. Data.

C. Provocative Challenge is the accepted best estimate of body burden. Here we administer oral and IV metal binding agents, with metal quantitative in a subsequent six hour urine collection. Your cost ($250) includes our fee, the lab fee, and the IV and oral chelating agents utilized.

Treatment – How do we get this stuff out of you?
Methyl Cycle, Detoxification, and Oxidative Stress Resolution Genomic Abnormalities: Nutritional supplementation and dietary avoidance measures are recommended, specific to your individual inherited weak links.

Chelation Therapy for Metal Detoxification: A generic term referring to the administration of agents that bind to and then remove toxic metals (but not organic pollutants) from your body.

1. Mg-EDTA: A series (20-40) of 3-hour IV infusions containing Mg-EDTA, B-Complex and Vitamin C. Mg-EDTA was used in the NIH sponsored Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT, which demonstrated an 18-38% reduction in 5-year adverse event rate when chelation therapy was added to standard pharmaceutical/interventional management in individuals with prior heart attack). I have been treating my patients with Mg-EDTA for 25 years; we were first amongst cardiology practices and third overall with respect to patient participation in TACT. When Lead and Cadmium are the problem, EDTA is the most effective chelator, and IV therapy is the most efficient approach. The magnesium content is also helpful in BP management.

2. Ca-EDTA: Calcium-EDTA alone is infused over 15 minutes. With respect to metal removal, both IV approaches are likely equally effective, but here you do not receive IV nutritional support. We favor Mg-EDTA in individuals with cardiovascular disease/hypertension and Ca-EDTA in younger patients (or if time constraints preclude you receiving a three-hour treatment).

3. Med Five is an enteric coated oral chelator that is taken concomitant to any IV chelation (blocks recycling of bound metals from the GI tract back to the circulation).

4. DMPS: 25 years ago, our only toxin was Lead, and EDTA was all we needed. Today we are being bombarded with “new and improved” toxins, particularly Mercury. EDTA does not remove Mercury from your cells! We remove mercury with “di-thiol” chelators: DMSA and DMPS. DMPS can be administered IV, but this agent is well absorbed orally, and in this format is less costly and easier to take. Compared to EDTA, DMPS binds less avidly to Lead and is not an efficient Cadmium chelator.

5. DMSA: Available over-the-counter or by standard or compounded prescription, DMSA will bind to and remove Mercury and Lead, but not Cadmium, and DMSA is not as powerful as EDTA or DMPS. DMSA is typically taken as 3-500 mg, 3 times a day, over 3 consecutive days, once a month, or within a program of DMSA 500 mg near bedtime, 10 nights on, 5 nights off.

6. Phosphatidylcholine-EDTA (DeToxMax or LipoPhos EDTA): Phosphatidylcholine and EDTA are admixed in a fashion such that Phosphatidylcholine serve as a drug delivery vehicls for EDTA, dramatically enhancing its absorption following oral administration. Phosphatidylcholine-EDTA serves as a slow and steady approach to metal detoxification, of particular value to patients with vascular insufficiency (please see our YouTube presentation).

7. Med Five: Med Five is a patented enteric coated EDTA/phosphatidylcholine tablet that we feel is better absorbed than standard oral EDTA preparations (see www.medfive.com). I helped design Med Five and am a co-holder of its patent. My personal patients can obtain Med Five at a discount (you receive a password). The discount is a plus for you and resolves conflict of interest concerns (otherwise I would not be able to talk to my own patients about a health promoting approach that I helped create).

8. Static Magnetic Field Chelation: Exposure to a static magnetic field increases intracellular energy potential and increases the efficiency of any metal chelation program that we might employ (I have been utilizing a negative field sleep pad for 20 years). Sleep pads can be purchased at magneticosleep.com.

Organic Pollutant Detoxification: We cannot bind and remove organic toxins, but we can enhance your ability to marshal your metabolic resources to do so.

1. Nrf-2 translocators (the classic example is sulforaphane) stimulate the liver to generate detox and antioxidant enzymes (Phase 1 Detox). All of us will benefit from this approach.

2. Detox chaperones such as glutathione, taurine, glycine, and calcium-glutarate can be taken to assist the liver in processing toxins out of our bodies (Phase II Detox).

3. Ionic Footbath: Your feet or hands are immersed in salt water, in to which an electrode imparts specific frequencies. The water is ionized; the field enters your body, and appears to break ionic bonds between toxins and your normal molecules. The toxins are drawn out in to the water in a sort of “reverse electroplating” or “forced sweating” effect. That toxins are being removed has been verified by third party chemical evaluations (with the Asyra unit). I’m not sure whether metals can be removed by the footbath, but hydrocarbon toxins are, and it seems to be particularly well suited to patients with gout. Footbath therapy is low in cost and lends itself well to in-home use. This approach may or may not remove pharmaceutical agents, and thus we advise against carrying out a foot bath soon (< 2 hours) after taking in a drug agent.

4. Far Infrared Sauna (FIS): Sweat carries out with it toxic substances. We sweat less as we age (aluminum containing anti-perspirants harm us here). Regular sauna will sweat out toxins, but the extreme heat will not be tolerated by many of you. FIS utilizes lower heat levels coupled with low level radiant energy derived from ceramic plates to generate active sweating. FIS is therapeutic in several cardiovascular conditions (FIS is covered under Medicare, but we don’t offer this treatment - we can’t have people prancing around the office in their bathing suits).

5. Asyra Homeopathic Detoxification: The Asyra device imprints treatment frequencies, specific to you, into a homeopathic carrier liquid – you take sublingual drops twice a day. Asyra is repeated and new drops are generated every 2-3 months over 1-2 years. Again, we cannot prove this approach with an allopathic lab study, but our observation is that our patients receive benefit from this approach. Asyra testing and therapy is available in Monroe, Michigan.

Costs – Your insurer will not cover the costs of any form of detoxification therapy. They will describe it as “medically unnecessary” or “experimental”. I will not write letters to request “pre-authorization” – this is simply a waste of time and risks labeling you as a “troublemaker”. Detoxification is a comprehensive and often long-term process, and it is not inexpensive, but I think that you are worth it. Please consider what you spend on a new car, or on a vacation, and then ask yourself what your health is worth. If you do not wish, or cannot afford, to undergo detoxification, then we can still help you - and we will help you - but our focus then (by necessity) will be confined to nutritional intervention that you can afford and the administration of insurance covered drugs and invasive treatments to deal with the consequences of long-term toxicity. Why not prevent this? I personally spend a lot of time and money on my personal health (supplements, VSEL Activation, exosomes, growth factors, detox, and lots of running shoes). I like the idea of vibrant health and a vibrant mind, and I also realize that being sick ultimately will cost me more than staying healthy (working one extra year, because my health is so good, will pay for a lot of vitamins)! I also realize that “next day” and “fully covered” surgical approaches to preventable health conditions may not be available to me in later years (what is the wait time for bypass surgery or a knee replacement in England or Canada)?

Politics – Leave this at the door. I am not interested in verbally sparing with other physicians who don’t know anything more about nutritional biochemistry and detoxification than I do about delivering babies or removing gall bladders. Do not expect me to compromise on science to meet the expectations of other doctors, insurance companies, or government agencies that just don’t understand (or wish to understand) the devastating consequences of organic pollutant and metal accumulation on our health and the health of our children and grandchildren.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               James C. Roberts MD FACC FAARFM    12/23/23