Ever feel the need to "detox?" A lot of commercial products claim they have the stuff to get it done, but the body actually has natural mechanisms in place to "detox," and they are constantly at work. The body can become overwhelmed with toxins, but by that point medical intervention would be necessary to clear it out.
What is a "toxin" exactly? We may first think of things like poison and pollution, and while those things are indeed toxic, many other things can act as toxins. In fact, chemist Raychelle Burks, PhD, explains how toxins are just a part of life. Often they come from inside the body as a natural part of the metabolic processes required to digest food.
Thankfully, the liver is well prepared to deal with both toxins coming from outside of the body and toxins coming from inside the body as byproducts of metabolism. Liver enzymes from the cytochrome P450 family neutralize toxins of all kinds, oxidating certain substances for excretion through urine or feces.