Is Toxic Burden the Root Cause of Your Food Sensitivities?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that roughly 84,000 chemical substances are in use in the US —many of which have limited testing for their effects on humans and the environment. Americans are exposed to many of these toxins daily, from everyday personal care items like cosmetics and shampoos to air and water pollution.

Toxins can be challenging to avoid altogether, and rather than breaking down upon exposure, they bioaccumulate or build up in the body and can last for decades. And they don’t just accumulate in humans. Toxins can also build up in our environment and food systems—via soil used for crops and animals raised for food—increasing our toxic build-up over time.

When toxic exposure levels reach a tipping point, the body can become overwhelmed and reach a state of toxicity known as toxic overload. Toxic overload can manifest in multiple organs, tissues, and cellular-level systems, making diagnosis difficult.

One significant consequence of toxic overload is a condition known as Toxicant-Induced Low Tolerance or TILT. This refers to the onset of intolerances to toxins, food, or drugs induced by a single significant chemical exposure or many low-level exposures over time. TILT can cause food sensitivities to develop as a result of toxic exposure.

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What is Toxicant-Induced Low Tolerance?

Toxicant-Induced Low Tolerance, or TILT, develops due to toxic overload in the body and involves the development of new food, chemical, or drug sensitivities. TILT develops in two stages: Initiation and Triggering.

Initiation of TILT

During initiation, an individual experiences either a single major exposure to toxins or many repeated exposures over time. Exposure to toxins such as environmental toxins, mycotoxins, pesticides, heavy metals, or chemicals can cause TILT to develop. Think of your body as a bucket with limited space. Your bucket fills up from exposure to various toxins. Once the bucket overflows, you experience toxic overload, triggering TILT.

Triggering Phase of TILT

During the triggering phase, an individual will start reacting to common chemicals, drugs, or foods that never previously triggered an immune response. Thus, food sensitivities will often accompany toxic overload and a compromised gut. Some common foods that individuals may develop sensitivities to include gluten and dairy. Digestive issues are often the primary symptom of food intolerance, but TILT can affect numerous body systems causing neurological issues, allergy-like symptoms, fatigue, and muscle pain triggered by exposure to different chemicals or foods.  

Toxic Burden and Leaky Gut

The amount of toxins in the body and the impact of those toxins is known as your toxic burden. Toxic burden can have a multi-faceted effect on the body, affecting virtually every organ system.

In addition to TILT, a high toxic burden can also cause increased intestinal permeability, also known as “leaky gut,” through the negative impact of toxins on the gut. Leaky gut occurs when the mucosal barrier within the intestinal lining is damaged, and particles like toxins, food, and pathogens leak into the bloodstream. Toxins can increase gut inflammation, threaten beneficial bacteria, and disrupt the intestinal lining, causing an imbalance within the gut microbiome. In other words, a high toxic burden can leave your gut compromised. For instance, exposure to certain environmental chemicals such as heavy metals like arsenic or pesticides can cause dysfunction in the gut microbiome. When the gut microbiome is imbalanced and leaky gut occurs, both toxins and food can enter the bloodstream, creating a vicious cycle of further inflammation, food sensitivities, and bacterial imbalance.

The relationship between food sensitivities and leaky gut is bidirectional, meaning that each can act as the cause or effect of the other. A leaky gut may cause food sensitivities to develop because gaps in the intestinal lining can allow food particles to enter the bloodstream, triggering an inflammatory immune reaction to a particular food.

High Toxic Burden Signs and Symptoms

Common symptoms of a high toxic burden and leaky gut include:

• Obesity
• Type 2 diabetes
• Metabolic syndrome
• Cancer
• Fatigue
• Infertility
• Allergies
• Behavior or mood disorders
• Neurological conditions- tremors
• Headaches

High Toxic Burden Possible Causes

In the same way that a high toxic burden can cause leaky gut, the reverse is also true—leaky gut can lead to a high toxic burden. This is because toxins can enter the bloodstream when the gut barrier is compromised rather than being excreted from the body.

Other factors that play a role in the development of a high toxic load include:

• Environmental factors such as climate, exposure to pollution, and chemicals
• Lifestyle factors, including nutrition, water consumption, activity levels, and stress
• And internal factors such as genetic variations

Functional Medicine Labs to Test for High Toxic Burden

When combating a high toxic burden, it’s essential to identify precise toxin exposure and assess gut function to gain the most robust understanding of toxic overload.

Precision testing that is useful for identifying and addressing toxicity includes:

1. Total Tox Burden: The Total Tox Burden is a comprehensive test for multiple toxin sources, including heavy metals, mold, and environmental toxins.
2. PFAS Chemical Test: The PFAS Chemical Test measures exposure to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, commonly called “PFAS.” PFAS are used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease, and water. These chemicals are pervasive in everyday life, appearing in the air, soil, drinking water, and consumer goods, and are thus a common source of toxicity.
3. Heavy Metals: The Heavy Metals panel tests for exposure to harmful heavy metals and elements such as arsenic, lead, and mercury. Heavy metals can accumulate in air, soil, and water sources near industrial production sites or pollution.
4. Mycotoxins: The Mycotoxins panel measures levels of common mycotoxins produced by mold. Mycotoxin exposure can come from both dietary and environmental sources.
5. Environmental Toxins: The Environmental Toxins panel measures levels of environmental toxins—substances that are manufactured or occur naturally in the environment and can cause acute or chronic toxic overload when absorbed, inhaled, or ingested.

Additional Labs to Consider

When addressing a high toxic burden, it’s vital to assess gut function and the presence of food sensitivities, as conditions like leaky gut and food sensitivities may develop due to toxic overload.

Lab tests for leaky gut & food sensitivities include:

1. Gut Zoomer: The Gut Zoomer tests for bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites in the gut microbiome, alongside relevant digestive, inflammatory, and immune markers. The panel measures hundreds of species of microbes at once, providing a comprehensive view of gut function.
2. Wheat Zoomer: The Wheat Zoomer panel assesses sensitivity to wheat, autoimmune disease, and intestinal barrier permeability.
3. Food Sensitivity 1+2: This panel measures IgA and IgG antibodies to 180 commonly consumed food antigens.

Functional Medicine Treatments for High Toxic Burden

Once the sources of a high toxic burden are determined through lab testing and lifestyle analysis, targeted functional medicine treatments can help support detoxification.

Nutrition That Helps Lower Toxic Burden

Foods can be contaminated throughout every stage of production with chemicals like fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and food additives. Thus, a critical component in preventing and treating toxic burden is nutrition. This includes:

• Avoiding processed foods and food additives such as preservatives
• Eating organic food or growing your own
• Avoiding plastic packaging or cans lined with plastic
• Eliminating plastic storage in the home
• Eliminating non-stick or aluminum cookware

5 R Protocol

If you’re suffering from a high toxic burden, there are several nutrition and lifestyle strategies you can implement to decrease toxin levels and improve leaky gut. A helpful guide to follow is the 5R protocol for gut repair:

1. Remove gut irritants from your diet, such as caffeine and alcohol, and avoid inflammatory foods, like dairy, gluten, and high-mercury seafood. Wash produce with baking soda, including organic produce, to help remove toxins from the diet. Additionally, avoid packaged foods to minimize exposure to toxins commonly found in plastic packaging.
2. Replace irritants with nutrients that support digestion, such as fiber. To promote detoxification, emphasize foods that support the three phases of detox in the body: functionalization, conjugation, and excretion. Foods that support detoxification include nuts and seeds like hazelnuts and flax seeds and herbs and spices like garlic and ginger. Soak and sprout grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds before cooking or consuming them to help increase nutrient absorption.
3. Repopulate the gut with helpful bacteria by including prebiotic and probiotic-rich foods such as fermented vegetables, kombucha, and kefir (non-dairy).
4. Restore your gut to optimal health by focusing on anti-inflammatory foods and key nutrients such as antioxidants. Choose organic, non-GMO foods to reduce exposure to environmental pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.
5. Rebalance your gut by making lifestyle adjustments in areas like sleep, exercise, and stress.

Supplements That Promote Detoxification

In addition to preventing exposure to toxins present in our air, water, and food, several supplements can promote detoxification and ensure proper absorption of nutrients in the body:

• Binders such as fulvic and humic acid
• Detox-support supplements such as milk thistle and dandelion
• Antioxidant-rich herbs such as turmeric and green tea
• Anti-inflammatory herbs such as aloe and slippery elm bark

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Summary

Could toxic burden be the root cause of your food sensitivities? Yes, Toxicant-Induced Low Tolerance and leaky gut can trigger reactions to food, creating a vicious cycle of inflammation in the body.

But by reducing your exposure to everyday toxins, eating anti-inflammatory foods that promote detoxification, supplementing, and using precision lab testing to identify toxicity sources, you can heal your gut, decrease your toxic burden, and ultimately reduce food sensitivities.