! Do you eat less than about eight serving of vegetables
and fruits per day?If you answered “yes” to even one or two of these questions, it
could indicate poor liver detoxification. Liver function also slows
down with age if you don’t keep it going with adequate healthy food.
Note: For ease of study, biochemists discuss liver detox as two
chemical pathways, called Phase I and Phase II. Each is associated
with specific toxins and nutrients. For simplicity, we’re grouping
them together as “liver detox.” It is important to understand that too
much of one nutrient, even as a food dose, may help one phase while
hurting the other. Balance and moderation are key.
Glutathione: The Detox Key
The single most important compound for liver detox is a substance
called glutathione, the most powerful of antioxidants that the body
produces. No single food is high in this natural substance, nor can we
take it in supplement form because it’s unstable. Fortunately, the
body makes glutathione when we eat a variety of foods and food-
based supplements rich in specific nutrients. Some of the key nutri-
ents the body needs to make glutathione include:
- Lipoic acid found in spinach, broccoli, peas, Brussels
sprouts and many other bitter vegetables. - Sulforaphan from broccoli and kale (highest in broccoli
sprouts). - Gamma tocopherol and alpha tocotrienol from fresh veg-
etables, nuts and seeds. - The amino acid cysteine, highest in certain animal pro-
teins, especially whey.
Free Radical Fallout
The process of detoxification normally produces large amounts of
unstable chemicals called oxygen free radicals. A diet rich in antioxi-
dantshelps sweep up this radical “fall-out” of liver detox. Potent
antioxidants found in brightly colored vegetables and fruits include
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