Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

1

As many of us know, toxins are stored in fat cells if they are not eliminated by the body. What if you eat a small animal, like a commercially raised chicken from a factory farm, does there even come a point where its fat cells are so saturated with toxins that any toxins it ingests just pass through the body?

Even if toxins continuously accumulate, are they less likely to be stored if there's already a substantial amount of toxins already inside its body?

edited Aug 25 2011 at 0:19

asked Aug 25 2011 at 0:12

sylvalant
11●2

Dave S. · Answer 1 · 2011-08-25 00:40:43Z UTC

Is this true? Are toxins stored in fat cells? Or is this a myth perpetuated by detox/cleanse diet promoters?

I haven't seen any science that backs this idea up, but it seems to permeate the internet/holistic health/US pop culture. Someone at work asked me today what I thought about detox/cleanse stuff and I said that I thought there was no basis for it. Is that accurate?

Travis Steward · Answer 2 · 2011-08-25 05:05:21Z UTC

1

Yes, fat cells are multi purpose containers and one function of them is to store elements in the blood that are inflammatory. This is why many things are insulinogenic, as insulin is excreted in response to a detected toxin.

This is fundamentally why insulin rises with excess glucose, as the body treats excess glucose as toxic. The function of glucose storage is itself an indication that the purpose of fat cells is to store toxins.

answered Aug 25 2011 at 5:05

Travis Steward
141●2

	One of insulin's roles is to clear glucose from the blood. But glucose is not stored in fat (that I know of). It is stored (as glycogen) in liver and muscle tissue. It can be converted to fat (palmitic acid) and then stored in fat - but palmitic acid is not toxic - although high levels od adipose tissue are inflammatory. Still not buying the fat stores toxins hypothesis. Do you have any papers to show me the errors of my ways? – Dave S. Aug 25 2011 at 12:21
	en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_resistance Look at third sentence. Glycogen is what the liver turns glucose into, but insulin does not open the liver for receipt of excess glucose; it opens the fat and muscles to receive it. Insulin is secreted in response to inflammatory agents, shuttling into muscle or fat cells. Clearly, this is a system designed to remove inflammatory agents from the blood. – Travis Steward Aug 25 2011 at 15:58
	I believe making the distinction that insulin's primary role is to remove inflammatory agents from the blood is imperative to get to that next level of leanness. The question becomes, how does one drain very toxic elements being stored in fat cells? The fat cells won't release it easily... – Travis Steward Aug 25 2011 at 16:25

Are excess toxins just passed through an animal’s body if its fat cells are completely saturated?

2 Answers