Review | Practical advice on dealing with toxins

The Toxin Solution
by Joseph Pizzorno
HarperOne

Unless you live in a bubble, you will be saying “yes” to many of the questions Joseph Pizzorno poses in his “toxic troubleshooter”: do you live in a mouldy house? Do you have mercury amalgam fillings? Not a few of us will also have eaten foods packaged in plastic containers (phthalates – used as plasticisers – are endocrine disruptors) or used potentially harmful cosmetics/personal care products. According to the author, a scientist, lead has been removed from petrol and house paint but remains in lipstick.

Then there are foods we think of as good for us that could be the opposite: Pizzorno says 80 per cent of apples grown in the US have a preservative chemical sprayed on them that breaks down into cancer-causing nitrosamines. Which is why he suggests buying organic produce for this and other fruit, including grapes and peaches. The Toxin Solution is a healthy dose of doom, although a lift from the gloom is offered by way of a detox diet. Pizzorno stresses, however, that it’s always better if you don’t put toxins in your body to begin with.