Do Environmental Toxins Affect Us More Than We Think?

I recently read an article from author Mary Roberts Smith—entitled "What About Vitamins, Do We Really Need Them?" (2009, Activz). The article said that even if we try to live a healthy lifestyle and eat nothing but organic foods, we will still require a whole food supplement to combat the huge amount of toxins that we are bombarded with on a daily basis.

She quoted two different studies done.

The first study was by the nonprofit group Environmental Working Group. The group studied the blood of newborn babies that were born around the country in 2005. What they found was astonishing: 287 chemicals and toxins in their young bodies.

The scariest toxin to show up was a by product of DDT. DDT was a pesticide used that was banned for its toxic effects on the body in 1972. Even scarier than that were:

• the 76 chemicals found that cause cancer in animals and humans

• the 94 toxins found that are known to cause damage to the brain and nervous system and

• the 79 toxins that cause birth defects and abnormal development

The second study was done by Dr. Michael McCally of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. McCally studied Bill Moyers' blood and urine for chemical and toxin levels. Later he compiled his studies to become the Bill Moyers report, "Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report," for PBS.

This was astonishing! They found 84 different chemicals, solvents, and toxins known to cause cancers and disease. At the end of the report, the conclusion was drawn that the average person is probably carrying enough toxins in their body to cause disease, especially cancer.

So why take a whole food supplement?

1. It's thought that a whole food supplement can combate the effects of the toxins our body is presented with on an almost constant daily basis.

2. It's thought that the extra boost of whole food nutrition will offset the toxins trying to invade our bodies.

3. And it's thought that the more organic the ingredients, the less chances we have of injesting even more synthetic, unnatural or possibly even toxic ingredients.

Choose a vitamin that comes from whole food sources like berries, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains. Also look for non-modified vitamins and ones that are grown on virgin mineral rich nutritive soil for the best possible nutrition our bodies would benefit from.