Detox Basics

Phase 1 vs. Phase 2 Detoxification

While a lot of detoxification happens in the cell itself, most detoxification happens in the liver in two parts: Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Phase 1: Scrubbing Clean

Phase 1 is the liver’s process of using enzymes — most notably the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes — to oxidize toxic substances such as xenobiotics, steroid hormones, and pharmaceuticals that are harmful to the body. Essentially, they are scrubbing clean and neutralizing the toxic material to help protect your body from any damage.

Phase 2: Removal

Phase 2 is the process of actually removing the toxin from your body by making it water-soluble and ready for excretion through the bile and eventually into your GI tract.

Think of it like a car wash. Phase 1 adds all the soap and scrubs the car. Phase 2 hoses off the soap and moves the car out of the wash.

Common Problems with Detoxification

In many people, problems arise in both phases of detox, which makes the process more difficult and can hinder the process altogether.

Phase 1 Inhibitors

Problems with Phase 1 detox can come from some foods like resveratrol, turmeric, caffeine, grapefruit juice, and black and green teas. Oddly enough, these are all substances that you see around the internet telling you to take more of to increase detox. But the biggest offender is pharmaceutical drugs.

The Phase 2 Bottleneck

Most people are very capable of Phase 1 detoxification. The problems arise with Phase 2, where you can’t actually get the toxic material out of your body. You may find yourself Phase 1 detoxing so fast that Phase 2 can’t keep up. If you can’t get the toxin out of your body, it ends up recirculating in the body where it can actually cause more problems than it did before the detox process.

This is why optimizing your digestion is so important — because most of these toxins are removed through your digestive tract. The liver delivers detoxed materials through the bile, which goes through your gallbladder into the digestive tract as part of your normal digestive pathway.

If you remember from the first lesson on digestion, there are a lot of complicated procedures that need to happen in your GI to make this all work correctly, so it’s important to revisit that lesson to make sure you are optimizing this. If you’ve ever dealt with gallbladder problems, then you know the severity of proper gallbladder function. Its main purpose is to get dangerous toxins out of your body.