{"id":100987,"date":"2021-03-30T10:12:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T14:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/"},"modified":"2021-10-04T20:30:37","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T00:30:37","slug":"what-are-toxins","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do you keep hearing about \u201ctoxins\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cToxins\u201d is an admittedly scary-sounding word, and these days, it doesn\u2019t take much Googling to bring you to a website that tells you all about how everything you\u2019re eating is full of them. Those eggs you had for breakfast? Toxic. Oh, you had an apple with lunch? Take cover, for it is poison!<\/p>\n

What toxins actually are<\/h2>\n

With all of the misinformation out there, it can be tough to separate fact from fiction, especially when it comes to your health<\/a>. So what are toxins? And do we need to be afraid of them?<\/p>\n

The University of Maryland Medical Center defines toxins as \u201csubstances created by plants and animals that are poisonous to humans.\u201d Toxins include substances like mercury, bisphenol-A (BPA), and cyanide. These may sound familiar – in fact, you\u2019re probably so familiar with them that they may even be in your body right now, depending on what you\u2019ve eaten recently. So if your body is full of these vicious poisons, how are you still sitting there on your phone reading this? In the (attributed) words of the Renaissance Swiss physician and philosopher Paraclesus, \u201csola dosis facit venenum.<\/em>\u201d Translation? The dose makes the poison.<\/p>\n

Dosage matters<\/h3>\n

It is absolutely factual that apple seeds contain cyanide. However, unless you\u2019re the kind of person who likes to kick back and relax with four hundred apples, they contain such little levels of cyanide that your body is easily able to expel it on its own – no detox or cleanse needed. In extreme doses, just about everything is toxic. Even substances as necessary for life as water can be lethal when the dose is too high.<\/p>\n

Just about everything is unhealthy when consumed in too-large of doses, and it\u2019s probably true that some substances we believe to be safe today will be connected to adverse effects in the future. Just consider the cases of leaded gasoline, tobacco, and high doses of radiation. But will one X-ray cause cancer? Certainly not. And if one X-ray won\u2019t cause cancer, neither will an apple.<\/p>\n

Other things to consider<\/h3>\n
It\u2019s great to be engaged with your health and to seek out information, but it\u2019s incredibly easy to get swept up in the culture of fear that\u2019s sometimes created around certain chemicals. So when you\u2019re reading an article about the wonders of a detox, read it with a critical eye. If the author is using the term \u201ctoxins\u201d without much specificity, or without any regard to dosage, your skepticism is probably warranted.<\/p>\n
\n
Sources<\/h5>\n
    \n
  • \n
    Laura J. Martin, MD, MPH. \u201cToxins\u201d. UMM. <\/em>University of Maryland Medical Center, 2016. Web.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n
    Chris Weller. \u201cWhat are toxins?\u201d MedicalDaily. <\/em>IBT Media Inc., Feb 18 2015. Web.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n
    \u201cFrequently Asked Questions about Thimerosal.\u201d CDC. <\/em>U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Aug 28 2015. Web.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n
    Mayo Clinic Staff. \u201cHyponatremia.\u201d MayoClinic. <\/em>Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, May 28 2014. Web.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n
    JG Dorea, M Farina, JB Rocha. \u201cToxicity of ethylmercury (and Thimerosal): a comparison with methylmercury.\u201d Journal of Applied Toxicology. <\/em>33(8):700-11. Aug 2013. Web.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  • \n
    \u201cStatement on thimerosal.\u201d Statement from the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety. <\/em>World Health Organization, July 2006. Web.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cToxins\u201d are absolutely everywhere – at least according to certain corners of the internet. We all want to do what’s best for our health, but with so much misinformation out there, it can be hard to know what that means in terms of what we should eat and drink and what sort of products we should use. So what exactly are “toxins”? And should we be afraid of them? We’ll help you separate fact from fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220991,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ovia_author_name":"","ovia_author_prefix":"","ovia_author_image":"","ovia_content_type_id":"176","ovia_product_mode":"2","ovia_days_from_signup":"","ovia_days_from_lmp":"","ovia_days_from_baby_birth":"","ovia_days_from_enroll":"","ovia_health_module_days_from":"","ovia_article_for_email_days_from":"","ovia_health_module":"","ovia_legacy_id2":"","ovia_ttc":"1","ovia_article_subtype":"","ovia_health_symptom":"","ovia_partner_id":"","ovia_partner_custom_group":"","ovia_legacy_category":"124","ovia_legacy_category2":"","ovia_content_url_id":"100987","ovia_include_share_buttons":"","ovia_fertility_goal":"2","ovia_secondary_module":"","ovia_trimester":"","ovia_child_age":"","ovia_share_image":"","ovia_more_menu_image":"","ovia_button1_url":"","ovia_days_from_postpartum":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"fert-category":[37,33,34,20,19,10,16,17],"preg-category":[],"parent-category":[],"fert-tag":[231,191,188],"preg-tag":[],"parent-tag":[],"class_list":["post-100987","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fert-category-general-health","fert-category-health-and-wellness","fert-category-nutrition","fert-category-preconception-health","fert-category-preconception-planning","fert-category-reproductive-health","fert-category-reproductive-healthcare","fert-category-reproductive-issues-and-conditions","fert-tag-fertility-disorders","fert-tag-patient-self-advocacy","fert-tag-wellness-exams"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat toxins really are & why you keep hearing about them<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are toxins? Have you hearing about the term \u201ctoxins\u201d a lot lately? Here is some helpful information about the term and what it means.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What toxins really are & why you keep hearing about them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are toxins? Have you hearing about the term \u201ctoxins\u201d a lot lately? Here is some helpful information about the term and what it means.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ovia Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-05T00:30:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"CMS Development\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec\"},\"headline\":\"Why do you keep hearing about \u201ctoxins\u201d?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-30T14:12:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-05T00:30:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\"},\"wordCount\":535,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\",\"name\":\"What toxins really are & why you keep hearing about them\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-30T14:12:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-05T00:30:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"What are toxins? Have you hearing about the term \u201ctoxins\u201d a lot lately? Here is some helpful information about the term and what it means.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":427,\"caption\":\"Graphic of the poison symbol.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why do you keep hearing about \u201ctoxins\u201d?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"description\":\"Digital health personalized for every family journey\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"width\":507,\"height\":112,\"caption\":\"Ovia Health\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec\",\"name\":\"CMS Development\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CMS Development\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What toxins really are & why you keep hearing about them","description":"What are toxins? Have you hearing about the term \u201ctoxins\u201d a lot lately? Here is some helpful information about the term and what it means.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What toxins really are & why you keep hearing about them","og_description":"What are toxins? Have you hearing about the term \u201ctoxins\u201d a lot lately? Here is some helpful information about the term and what it means.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/","og_site_name":"Ovia Health","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","article_modified_time":"2021-10-05T00:30:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@OviaHealth","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/"},"author":{"name":"CMS Development","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec"},"headline":"Why do you keep hearing about \u201ctoxins\u201d?","datePublished":"2021-03-30T14:12:46+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-05T00:30:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/"},"wordCount":535,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/","name":"What toxins really are & why you keep hearing about them","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-30T14:12:46+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-05T00:30:37+00:00","description":"What are toxins? Have you hearing about the term \u201ctoxins\u201d a lot lately? Here is some helpful information about the term and what it means.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_100987.jpg","width":640,"height":427,"caption":"Graphic of the poison symbol."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/100987\/what-are-toxins\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why do you keep hearing about \u201ctoxins\u201d?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","name":"Ovia Health","description":"Digital health personalized for every family journey","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization","name":"Ovia Health","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","width":507,"height":112,"caption":"Ovia Health"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b5f7682c13698a36c91cb68d9233ec","name":"CMS Development","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc868ff4c62546c8ac0386ecfb388f18a56539ce6b1fdc6e30ee3e15477e6bbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CMS Development"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/wp.oviahealth.com"]}]}},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":100987,"es":220992},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/100987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/100987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253382,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/100987\/revisions\/253382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fert-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-category?post=100987"},{"taxonomy":"preg-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-category?post=100987"},{"taxonomy":"parent-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-category?post=100987"},{"taxonomy":"fert-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-tag?post=100987"},{"taxonomy":"preg-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-tag?post=100987"},{"taxonomy":"parent-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-tag?post=100987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}