Eliminating toxins in fat cells by weight loss and exercise.

PapaChanoli
PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Thoughts, insights, denials, interest?

This article's based on studies regarding detoxification of stored toxins in fat cells caused mainly by chemical exposure. The claim is that these toxins are reintroduced into our blood stream by exercise and weight loss. The article also suggests saunas and niacin as a method for eliminating these toxins before they are reabsorbed into fat cells in the body, especially around organs and the brain.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/04/detoxification-program.aspx?x_cid=20140716_ranart1_facebookdoc


Edited for typo.
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Replies

  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Super digging the snake oil.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Super digging the snake oil.

    Well, since the article itself isn't actually selling anything and the studies are based outside of the open market, I don't think it qualifies as snake oil.

    Did you even read it?

    If you have anything more thoughtful to say, I'd be interested.
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
    who wants to bet on whether or not Dr. Yu sells niacin supplements
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
    Study funded by Whirlpool Sauna division?
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Maybe it is hype, but that still doesn't speak to the article itself. I'm not claiming it's virtue, just looking for insightful discussion.
  • civilizedworm
    civilizedworm Posts: 796 Member
    As the great James Randi would say "Woo."
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    [img]http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag128/ksy1969/Pics for Forums/popcorn2_zps8c8fc824.gif[/img]

    In for the entertainment!!!
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Mercola took a page out of the studies on seals and applied it to people. DDT is stored in fat and blubber and reintroduced when fat is metabolized. Unless you have ingested significant amounts of DDT, your body can flush out toxins safely using the liver and kidneys.
  • johnsonb0921
    johnsonb0921 Posts: 35 Member
    I don't buy into all the "detox" stuff, but we do know certain chemical toxins do bioaccumulate in fat cells/tissues (PCBs, Dioxin, Mercury, etc). If we burn our fat stores, what happens to these chemicals? According to the article, they are released into the blood stream. I don't know whether that's true, but they have to go somewhere, yes? It is interesting to think about...
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Study funded by Whirlpool Sauna division?

    Study funded at least partly through the Dept. of Defense. Now were the funds donated by Jacuzzi? Who knows.

    Still, that's marketing and economics. Its not new information that fat cells store toxins and that those toxins are released when fat is depleted.

    Unfounded speculations don't really help.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    The studies cited in the article are incredibly limited. The first study had 8 subjects, the second (the workers) was 11 subjects and the 3rd study had 7 subjects. That's not very many....

    I think it's premature to form a 'detox program' for your fat cells from so little of what was studied.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    I don't buy into all the "detox" stuff, but we do know certain chemical toxins do bioaccumulate in fat cells/tissues (PCBs, Dioxin, Mercury, etc). If we burn our fat stores, what happens to these chemicals? According to the article, they are released into the blood stream. I don't know whether that's true, but they have to go somewhere, yes? It is interesting to think about...

    I'm generally suspicious of Mercola and I don't buy into the detox products and marketing. Niacin however is dirt cheap and saunas are not hard to come by. Even if this was a marketing ploy, the profit margin is weak. I find this interesting because it side steps Mercolas typical hype and has some substance to its potential credibility.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    The studies cited in the article are incredibly limited. The first study had 8 subjects, the second (the workers) was 11 subjects and the 3rd study had 7 subjects. That's not very many....

    I think it's premature to form a 'detox program' for your fat cells from so little of what was studied.

    Good point. Thank you.
  • JosieRawr
    JosieRawr Posts: 788 Member
    Read it- very repetitive, talks a bit in circles.

    Niacin is a vitamin(one of the b vitamins) not sure how it reacts with your fatty tissue, but it is good to clean out for a pee test... So I've heard anyways, from a close and reliable source(or multiple siblings). I don't attest to it, not am I recommending testing it out. :)

    I'm just going to add this link concerning liver damage here... http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/expert-answers/niacin-overdose/faq-20058075
  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    The site in the OP is from a guy cited by the FDA for illegally false claims ... repeatedly.

    http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    I don't buy into all the "detox" stuff, but we do know certain chemical toxins do bioaccumulate in fat cells/tissues (PCBs, Dioxin, Mercury, etc). If we burn our fat stores, what happens to these chemicals? According to the article, they are released into the blood stream. I don't know whether that's true, but they have to go somewhere, yes? It is interesting to think about...

    I found one abstract. Can't access the full article.

    http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v35/n5/full/ijo2010188a.html

    As another poster said, very limited in terms of sample size.
  • TAsunder
    TAsunder Posts: 423 Member
    Smells a lot like the scientology detox. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2004/10/poisons_begone.html

    A) I wouldn't trust anything on Mercola's site as far as I could throw it. The guy practices dubious medicine and science and has gotten into a fair amount of trouble for unsubstantiated claims in selling various snake oils.

    B) I wouldn't trust anything based on Scientology / Hubbard as far as I could throw it.

    So it starts off with horrible footing even before you read the so-called science or research it. And based on the slate article, my guess is that they are trying to apply a very tiny smidgen of science about fat toxins to anything and everything that one might consider a toxin and claim that the science supports them.
  • JosieRawr
    JosieRawr Posts: 788 Member
    Read it- very repetitive, talks a bit in circles.

    Niacin is a vitamin(one of the b vitamins) not sure how it reacts with your fatty tissue, but it is good to clean out for a pee test... So I've heard anyways, from a close and reliable source(or multiple siblings). I don't attest to it, not am I recommending testing it out. :)

    Also in to read my scientific opinions maybe? : /
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    The site in the OP is from a guy cited by the FDA for illegally false claims ... repeatedly.

    http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html

    Yup, snake oil salesman looking for rubes.

    Just another Oz.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Did you even read it?

    Yup, did you? I mean, I just don't understand how your BS detectors didn't go off, also, Mercola's a known cheat and liar.
  • civilizedworm
    civilizedworm Posts: 796 Member
    Orac's epic takedown of Mercola:
    Unfortunately, even so, apparently Joe Mercola was there. I learned this yesterday when i saw that that foremost promoter of quackery on the Internet is celebrating his fifteenth anniversary. In other words, the original wretched hive of scum and quackery, Mercola.com, sprang into existence eight years before the website that I usually refer to as a wretched hive of scum and quackery...
    Over the years that I’ve been aware of Mercola.com, it’s hard for me to pick out the most glaring example of quackery, although, if I have to pick just one, surely Mercola’s promotion of Dr. Tullio Simoncini has to rank right up there at or near the top.

    Dr. Simoncini claims that all cancer is due to a fungus. Actually, he claims that cancer is a fungus. Not just some cancers. All cancer. What, you may ask, is his reasoning? Well, fungus is white, and cancer is white; so that means that cancer is really a fungus.
    Other claims Mercola makes include that he was the first to “warn about the emergence of statin drugs” back in 2001. Of course, if you just bother to search PubMed, it’s not difficult to find many articles about the risk/benefit ratio of statins published in 2001 and earlier. Similarly, Mercola takes credit for “warning of the dangers of routine mammograms.” A better way of describing it would be fear mongering about imagined risks of mammograms and denying the known benefits of mammographic screening, all apparently to help him sell his thermography screening. Thermography for breast cancer screening, as I have pointed out before, is unproven and currently considered useless.

    If you don't read Respectful Insolence, you should.

    http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/08/03/15-years-of-promoting-quackery/
  • Katanthus
    Katanthus Posts: 346 Member
    According to a doctor friend, the chemicals are dealt with by the liver, flushed out by the kidneys, or reabsorbed in other body fat. The best way to "detox" is to try avoid the toxins in the first place, and that is not easy to do.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    According to a doctor friend, the chemicals are dealt with by the liver, flushed out by the kidneys, or reabsorbed in other body fat. The best way to "detox" is to try avoid the toxins in the first place, and that is not easy to do.

    Which toxins are that, exactly? And chemicals are in everything. What do you eat?

    we-love-chemicals-620-450x636.jpg

    032404db-502d-454b-a7e2-dfa7536114b5-460x276.png
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    Did you even read it?

    Yup, did you? I mean, I just don't understand how your BS detectors didn't go off, also, Mercola's a known cheat and liar.

    Actually they did go off, as they do with most of Mercolas claims. I still found it interesting. Thanks for your input.
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    If you don't read Respectful Insolence, you should.

    http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/08/03/15-years-of-promoting-quackery/

    Good link. Thanks.

    Edit: Lovin' this blog.
  • civilizedworm
    civilizedworm Posts: 796 Member
    Slightly off topic, but somehow completely relevant:

    Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy

    http://youtu.be/_c6HsiixFS8
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    According to a doctor friend, the chemicals are dealt with by the liver, flushed out by the kidneys, or reabsorbed in other body fat. The best way to "detox" is to try avoid the toxins in the first place, and that is not easy to do.

    Which toxins are that, exactly? And chemicals are in everything. What do you eat?

    we-love-chemicals-620-450x636.jpg

    032404db-502d-454b-a7e2-dfa7536114b5-460x276.png

    Although I appreciate that you are taking this as a 'cleanse' thread, it's not really. There are actually fat soluble toxins that get stored in fat, and then are flushed from the body through the liver and kidneys when the fat is metabolized. BPAs, and some pesticides off the top of my head.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    Did you even read it?

    Yup, did you? I mean, I just don't understand how your BS detectors didn't go off, also, Mercola's a known cheat and liar.

    Actually they did go off, as they do with most of Mercolas claims. I still found it interesting. Thanks for your input.

    Good to know were not going to have to debate whether homeboy is a snake oil huckster or not.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Do the scientologists not use niacin and saunas in their drugs rehab programmes?
  • PapaChanoli
    PapaChanoli Posts: 178 Member
    I appreciate the inputs offered here. I am not, nor have I ever been a supporter of Mercola.

    In my opinion, sweating, and the other eliminating bodily processes along with drinking plenty of water are the age old, tried and true ways to flush toxins out of your system.

    I just found the concept interesting, and despite the rampant sarcasm found on this site, I thought it would be a good way to vet the information. So far, it definitely proved to be that.

    Thanks for the input. Any further thoughts or opinions on the concept are appreciated. As for me, I only condone the above mentioned methods.

    Although, before reading this I have steadily made a point of hitting the steam room for a few minutes and soaking in the hot tub after workouts. I think that can only help, if for nothing more than minimizing muscle aches. Sweat is good.

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