Our body relies on many different nutrients for our detoxification processes. Here's a brief look at some of the main ones.

Selenium

• Selenium reduces the absorption and facilitate the removal of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury & aluminium, it's also important in forming one of the body's natural antioxidants and has a protective effect on the male reproductive system

Zinc

• Zinc is essential for many body processes and chemical reactions and is extremely beneficial for protection against heavy metal toxicity

Vitmain C

• Vitamin C has an enormous range of health benefits, specific to detoxification Vitamin C increases Glutathione production, is protective against the effects of pollution, cigarette smoke and heavy metal intake and being a strong antioxidant assists in protecting and repairing cell damage caused by free-radicals. Vitamin C also activates detoxifying enzymes in the liver.

B Vitamins

• B vitmains are important for Phase II & II detoxification, as well as the function of nervous system and immune system. B Vitamins are depleted during times of physical or emotional stress

N-Acetyl Cysteine

• N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) - assists the body to produce cysteine & glutathione, required for Phase II detoxification in the liver

Glutamine

• Glutamine is an important amino acid for many reasons, especially in athletes but in this case it, along with cysteine form Glutathione which is important for detoxification processes

MSM

• MSM (Methylsulphonylmethane) provides dietary sources of sulphur, an important detoxifying enzyme in the liver

These are just some of the important nurtients the body requires for effective detoxification. You can speak to your naturopath or health professional about the best way to obtain these. There are many great practitioner products available and some over the counter products are also able to be purchased from health food stores.  Taking a good quality multivitamin is a good start to getting all the basic nutrients that your diet may be lacking.

The body does not have detoxification methods for heavy metals so we rely on other minerals to bind them and remove them from the body. Chelation is a process used to remove heavy metals from the blood stream but needs to be done professionally.

Some vitamins and minerals block the body from absorbing heavy metals e.g.

• Selenium, vitamin E & methionine are protective against mercury
• Vitamin C, hesperidin, zinc, iron and calcium, methionine & cysteine are protective against Lead poisoning
• Zinc, selenium, copper, iron, vitamin C & E are protective against cadmium