Smoking damages a number of organs and bodily systems, leading to an increase in high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, as well as cancers in your lungs, mouth and throat. Once you do stop smoking, your body can start to cleanse itself. There are some things you can do to help detoxify your lungs and other organs.
Tobacco Toxins
There are several kinds of poisons in tobacco smoke. The National Cancer Institute's Quitting Smoking website lists more than a dozen of the 250 or more harmful chemicals found in cigarette smoke. They include formaldehyde; the metals arsenic, cadmium, chromium and beryllium; industrial chemicals such as hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, vinyl chloride and toluene; polonium-210, a radioactive element; and carbon monoxide. Health Canada also lists mercury among the toxins in cigarette smoke.
Chelation
Chelation is the process of removing toxic metals from your body. Doctors use a number of chemicals to accomplish this, but there are also herbs and other foods that can do some of the same work. The Modern Herbalist reports that Dr. Yoshiaki Omura, director of medical research at the Heart Disease Research Foundation, discovered that cilantro (a culinary herb also known as Italian parsley), cooked slightly causes the body to excrete mercury in the urine in large amounts. The website says Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., Ph.D, found cilantro effective in removing mercury from the brain, where it can do a great deal of harm. Klinghardt recommends a minimum dose of a teaspoonful of cilantro a day.
Methionine, an essential amino acid (the building blocks of proteins), has been shown in lab studies with rats to protect them from the harmful effects of lead and mercury.
Detoxifying Herbs
The liver and kidneys are the organs primarily responsible for filtering poisons from the bloodstream. There are a large number of herbal preparations formulated to detoxify them, as well as blood cleansers. Several herbs are also specifically recommended for strengthening and supporting your lungs.
Among the herbs most commonly included in herbal detox preparations are chlorella, shown to cleanse heavy metals; ginseng, a Chinese medicinal root widely considered to be a restorative tonic; goldenseal root, known for its antimicrobial action and as a blood cleanser; yellow dock root; dandelion root; Oregon grape root; echinacea; and red clover blossoms. Some herbs frequently recommended for improving lung health include garlic, mullein leaves, lobelia, ginger and licorice root.
Tags: your lungs, cigarette smoke, your body