Everyday our bodies are exposed to toxins through our food, our water, our air and our personal care products. Did you know that ”When toxins build up over time and overload the body, they gradually undermine your health and cause disease?” writes author, Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, N.D. of The Toxin Solution: How Hidden Poisons in the Air, Water, Food and Products We Use are Destroying our Health.

The Connection between Toxins and Eye Disease

Toxins can contribute to compromised health and can even affect our vision. Ophthalmologist and author of Macular Degeneration: The Complete Guide to Saving and Maximizing Your Sight, Lylas Mogk, agrees and shares how toxins can influence the health of our retina and macula: “First, advanced age and long-term environmental exposures together produce an increased number of free radicals: unstable molecules that damage the macula if they are not immediately neutralized by anti-oxidants.”

The Culprits of Toxin Exposures

Two areas that contribute to some of the highest toxin exposure are processed or toxin-contaminated foods and everyday personal care products.  Paying attention to what you put on your body is just as important as paying attention to what you put in your body.

Cosmetics and Personal Care Products

Did you know that the majority of ingredients in your creams, shampoos, deodorants, lotions, and toothpastes have not been tested for safety and contain toxins that can disrupt hormones, contribute to allergies and increase our toxic load? Toxins from our personal care products can be absorbed by the skin into the bloodstream. Labels such as “natural” or “botanical” are not regulated and imply that all ingredients are plant based and are safe. Words like “fragrance” or “parfum” can hide many toxic ingredients because companies do not have to be transparent or complete in their listing of ingredients.   Deciphering the label of ingredients of your personal care products and determining how safe or unsafe they are can be difficult.  A tool to help you make informed and safer decisions is the Skin Deep Database that rates personal care products for carcinogens, hormone disrupters, and contributors to allergies.

https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Chemicals On and In Your Food

Artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and food coloring are just a partial list of harmful chemicals that can be found in food.  A good place to start is to know when it’s important to choose organic fruits or vegetables and when non-organic choices may be a safe option. Every year the Environmental Working Group (EWG) publishes a list of fruits and vegetables with the highest residue of pesticides called the Dirty Dozen and a list of fresh foods with the least amount of pesticides called the Clean Fifteen. You can check out the EWG’s 2017 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce here

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty_dozen_list.php#.

Make the connection between toxins and health so you can make safer and more informed decisions.

Leslie Degner, RN, BSN

www.WebRN-MacularDegeneration.com