Why Are Some People Sensitive to Environmental Chemicals While Others Are Not?

by Drs. Pina LoGiudice & Peter Bongiorno, www.InnerSourceHealth.com

Unfortunately, the world we live in is full of toxicity. In 2009, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control delivered its most comprehensive report about environmental exposure to common chemicals. Studying 2400 individuals, they learned that most Americans have more than 212 toxins weighing them down. And there’s nowhere to run; these chemicals have been found 22,000 feet up, at the peak of the Andes mountains as well as in the chord blood of new born babies.

Many of our patients ask us why is it that some people are able to deal with these toxins, while others are very chemically sensitive, and seem to be affected so easily by them? Aren’t we all pretty much exposed to the same chemicals? 

Well, scientists still don’t know why some people react to toxins more than others do. But we do know that some people seemed unaffected by environmental allergies, mold, and airborne chemicals, while others suffer tremendously with headaches, fatigue, sleeping problems, pain, and many more challenges. In fact, those with the most are called ‘chemically sensitive.’

A perfect example is walking into a perfume store. The pthalates that are in the air (these are the synthetic plastic-like chemicals that give off the odor) are not healthy for anyone. But for some people that are chemically sensitive, they can start off waves of nausea, fatigue, headaches, and even vomiting. So, why can some people go into a store like that and seemingly enjoy it, while others get sick to their stomach?

We believe one likely reason is that some people’s bodies are equipped to detoxify chemicals well, while other people are poor detoxifiers. As an example, medical science is showing that there are systems in the liver called cytochrome systems that vary from person to person. These cytochromes are little protein molecules that can help a person detox various chemicals like pesticides, plastics, and medications. Depending on a person’s genetics, some people are better at it for certain chemicals than other people. As a result, some chemicals are broken down for some people, while for others, it hangs around, causing reaction in the body that results in you feeling ill.

A second reason resides in some people’s ability to whisk the chemicals quickly out of the blood stream and store them nasty chemicals in certain body tissues, like fat and bone. This helps keep them away from more active organs, or places like blood vessels and nervous tissue, where they can do more harm.  

So the same level of toxic exposure that can wreak havoc on one person may have little or no effect on another.  Since the medical science hasn’t really caught up, and we don’t yet know who is more susceptible, we strongly recommend to our patients try to do a good detoxification program at least twice a year for three weeks each. During this period, it is a good chance to reset the body, and give the body what it needs to properly breakdown and clean out. Especially for people who are not good detoxifiers.  

If you are someone who is chemically sensitive, beyond regular detoxing, it is also important to eat fiber regularly, exercise to help detoxify, choose organic food and natural meats, use high quality air filters, and drink purified or clean mineral water too.