Protect Your Body’s Unique and Complex Chemistry
The following is adapted from Dad Lived to 101 and You Can Too.
Think of the body as a chemical reactor where trillions of chemical reactions are occurring every second to keep you alive. These reactions vary, from the processes that release energy from the foods you eat to the processes that create the necessary proteins for life, such as hormones and enzymes.
These reactions preserve homeostasis — the maintenance of a stable internal body environment that involves regulating body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, among other vital functions. And let’s not forget, they make you who you are — they somehow create your consciousness, memories, and the emotions that you experience.
It is important to recognize this complexity so you are aware that whatever you expose yourself to — whatever you let into your reactor — can interact with your unique and intricate chemistry. This includes molecules of drugs, supplements, pollutants, and other chemicals. Exposure to any of these could result in physiological changes, many of which cannot be predicted and some of which will be harmful.
All Drugs Can Cause Adverse Reactions
Pharmaceutical drugs are molecules specifically designed to interact beneficially with your body’s chemistry. They can cure or help manage many diseases, improve your quality of life, and increase longevity. My father, Eddie, took antihypertensive medicine that lowered his blood pressure to normal levels, decreasing his chances of cardiovascular complications. But along with their benefits, all medications are associated with possible adverse reactions.
It is impossible to predict all the potential outcomes that can occur with newly discovered pharmaceuticals, due to the complexity of the body’s chemistry. For this reason, in order for a new drug to receive Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, it must go through an extensive series of trials. Multiple studies of sufficient size and scope are required to answer the following questions: Will the novel drug work? What side effects will appear? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
Unwanted reactions to medication can be allergy-related or can be side effects of the drug. Allergic symptoms appear due to an abnormal immune response to the chemical composition of the medicine. One of the most common drug allergies that doctors encounter is penicillin. The reaction to penicillin can range from a mild skin rash and hives to full blown, life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Side effects are much more common than allergic reactions. At times, they are unpredictable and may be related to an individual’s unique chemical makeup. Most of the adverse effects are minor, such as an upset stomach or a dry mouth, but serious consequences can arise, as with Eddie’s hyponatremia.
Dietary Supplements Are Not Always Harmless
Drugs are only one of a number of agents that can interact with your body’s chemistry. Many Americans take dietary supplements — vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and herbs, for example — believing that they are harmless, but they, too, can have bad health effects.
Supplements have been linked to elevated cancer risks, increased bleeding, and toxicity to organs such as the liver. Because they are not categorized as drugs by the FDA, they do not have to pass the same rigorous testing that drugs do. Be especially careful about taking megadose supplements unless they are prescribed or recommended by your physician. You must recognize that risks exist with these bioactive agents.
Decrease Your Exposure to Toxins For Better Health
Chemicals are everywhere. They are in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the products we touch. They have enriched our lives in many ways, making our drinking water clean, increasing our agricultural food production, and providing energy and materials for the world we live in. However, some chemicals are harmful, and your body’s exposure to these agents can result in potentially serious health consequences.
Reactions to chemicals can vary from toxic (lead poisoning) to carcinogenic (cancer from cigarette smoke) to allergic (latex sensitivities). The effect can be immediate, such as the sudden onset of headaches and dizziness from inhaling solvent fumes, or arise decades later, with the development of lung cancer after exposure to asbestos.
Chemicals can’t harm you unless they get into your body. You can inhale them when you breathe in second-hand smoke or soot from a wood-burning fireplace. You can consume them when you eat pesticides left on fruits and vegetables or when you drink water contaminated with arsenic and nitrates. You can even absorb them through your skin. Dermal exposure to potentially harmful agents, such as solvents (acetone, formaldehyde, and benzene found in some beauty products), can produce measurable levels of these substances in the blood.
So how do you protect yourself from the harmful effects of such chemicals? The most important action you can take is to be aware and careful of what you let into your body.
For more advice on how to avoid chemicals in your daily life, you can find Dad Lived to 101 and You Can Too on Amazon.
Dr. Bill Tsu became a health and fitness enthusiast when he was a young teen playing the role of English translator for his immigrant parents during their doctor visits. This experience sparked his passion for learning about the human body and what it takes to stay healthy. Now, with a career in medicine that spans more than thirty years, a degree in engineering, and a lifetime of caring for a centenarian, Dr. Tsu has written this unique book that will help others improve their health and live longer.
