What Are Neurotoxins?

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What are Neurotoxins?

Neurotoxins are toxic substances that damage cellular tissue. They are destructive and sometimes even poisonous to nerves. This causes a condition called neurotoxicity, which is where the name came from.

Neurotoxins interfere with the electrical makeup of your nerves. They either interrupt the communication process with your nerve cells or overstimulate them to the point of death.

The good news is, you can remove these toxic ingredients from your diet.

Keep reading to learn more about what neurotoxins are, the symptoms of damages caused by neurotoxins and 15 of the most common ones you should be on the look-out for.

Neurotoxins can attack both your peripheral and central nervous systems.

Your peripheral nervous system is made up of all the nerves and axons that communicate with your cells. It is located outside of your spinal cord or brain.

Your central nervous system is the neurological network, which includes your brain and spinal cord.

Symptoms of Damages Caused by Neurotoxins

Because of the negative impact neurotoxins have on your nervous system, they can lead to the following health problems.

Irritability, emotional instability
Paralysis, motor function control issues
Blindness and other vision problems
Insanity, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases
Loss of cognitive function and memory
Altered views of reality
Obsessive or compulsive behavior
Uncontrollable depression and anxiety
Loss of circulation throughout the body
Flu-like symptoms
Tingling and numbness in the limbs
Birth defects
Chromosome damage
Skin problems and hair loss
Headaches
Chronic fatigue
Behavioral issues
Sexual dysfunction

Any physical or mental aspect of your body or mind which deals with your nerve system can be damaged significantly by neurotoxins. They shorten the lifespan of your nerve cells. All the nerve cells in your body (your neurological network) help the interconnected systems that run your body “talk” to each other.

When cells are damaged or destroyed by neurotoxins, the internal systems which keep you alive are compromised. This could mean anything from merely getting a headache to developing a neuro-degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s.

Unfortunately, neurotoxins are in many of the foods you eat each day.

Neurotoxins in Everyday Life

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Your favorite fast food and processed food treats include neurotoxins. The volume of neurotoxins found in fast food is extremely high. The same is true with any processed food. When agriculture moved from family farms to corporate-controlled businesses, the quality of the food you ate began to decline.

If You Eat Processed Foods, You Are Eating Neurotoxins

This began in the 1960s and 1970s. Pesticides, steroids, and preservatives began accompanying unsustainable farming practices. Neurotoxins were intentionally added to your food to make it addictive and impossible to resist. The practice continues today and is more widespread than ever. In fact, most of the processed foods you eat qualify as “food” at all.

Neurotoxins contain incredibly high amounts of neurotoxic additives. They were placed there intentionally, despite the known health dangers to you and your family, simply to keep manufacturing costs down and make you crave more and more of the food that is literally killing you.

Food Regulation

The Federal Department of Agriculture, FDA, in the United States is the approving body over what is allowed in processed foods. Unfortunately, they are controlled by corporations with incredible political influence. These corporations do not care about the health of you and your family. They care about addicting you to the foods and beverages they make and don’t care how they do this.

This means that the job of choosing what food is good for you is up to you.

The sad truth is that your government is not actually that concerned about your welfare.

Why would you give the job of keeping you and your family safe and healthy to someone that wants nothing more than to reach into your bank account and remove all your money, while addicting you to harmful chemicals that cause mental and physical health problems?

Take the health and wellness of the ones you love into your own hands. I urge you to start avoiding the following foods and neurotoxins that are keeping you from getting the most out of life.

(The FDA has given the blessing to more than 3,000 chemicals and food additives that affect the US food supply. This is the case, even though only a few of these substances have been tested for safety.)

Look for and Avoid These 15 Neurotoxins

Neurotoxins are in the food you eat, the air you breathe, the liquids you drink, and the clothes, furniture, and products you interact with. Much of the time, their effect on you is minimal to nonexistent. The problem happens when neurotoxins are present at such high levels that even a slight exposure is damaging to your nervous system.

Some neurotoxins are so potent that they do significant damage, even in small amounts.

While hundreds of neurotoxins have been identified, the following 15 are some of the most prevalent in the foods you eat and the liquids you drink.

Listed below you will also find the foods associated with these poisonous and dangerous toxins, as well as the health problems overexposure leads to.

1. Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

MSG is a natural substance. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is good for you. It is an amino acid and sodium made up of glutamic acid. It occurs naturally at very high levels in parmesan cheese and tomatoes. It is also directly linked to vision problems, overweight, and obesity, pancreatic disorders, chronic fatigue, and ADHD. It can make you gain weight, even if you lower the number of calories you eat.

MSG is frequently found in a wide variety of processed foods and is not required to be disclosed on food labels. Processed meats in fast food restaurants are chock-full of MSG. This substance is so addictive because of the way it changes your neurological network, and because of this, it is used as a flavor enhancer.

It is often found in Asian and prepackaged foods and is thought to be present in as much as 60% to 70% of all processed foods. If you eat at a restaurant or fast food joint, you are eating MSG. It is often sneakily named hydrolyzed protein, autolyzed yeast, glutamic acid, and yeast extract.

2. Acrylamide

Do you drink coffee? A lot of people do, more than they should. You know that caffeine, one of the premier ingredients in coffee, is harmful when you get too much of it. Guess what else is in coffee? Acrylamide is present and is also found in starchy foods like french fries and potato chips, as well as cigarettes. This toxin instantly raises your risk of developing cancer and suffering from a number of other health issues.

3. Aspartame

You may know this toxic substance by the names Equal, AminoSweet, NutraSweet or Spoonful. These artificial sweeteners should be avoided at all costs since even minor exposure over time can lead to the development of diabetes and obesity, neurological disorders, mental illness, blindness, and kidney failure. You probably ingest aspartame without even knowing it, since it can be found in more than 6,000 food and beverage products.

4. Sucralose

Splenda is an artificial sweetener that is full of this toxic substance. It was actually created while trying to develop a deadly insecticide and is a “chemical cousin” to the long-banned pesticide DDT.

5. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein

If you eat junk food, you are wolfing down large quantities of hydrolyzed vegetable protein. The words vegetable and protein are used to make this chemical sound healthy. It is anything but. It contains high levels of glutamate and aspartate, which stimulates nerve cells to death.

6. Sodium fluoride

This is a common element in drinking water. It is also found in many kinds of toothpaste. Before it was added to the foods and beverages you eat and drink, it was a preferred use for rodent extermination, because it was so good for killing animals. If you see sodium fluoride or fluoride listed as an ingredient in a food you are planning to eat, understand that this is actually a mixture of several different hazardous chemicals.

7. Mercury

Found in drinking water and fish-based products, Mercury is one of the most toxic and dangerous of all neurotoxins. It is directly related to brain-based disorders, because it is so adept at destroying brain tissue.

8. Calcium caseinate

When you see the word calcium in this ingredient, you instantly think milk. Milk seems like a healthy substance to put into your body. For decades we were told to drink plenty of cow’s milk. In the last 20 or 30 years, we have found that cow’s milk is a very unhealthy food/beverage for humans to consume. Calcium caseinate is often used in junk food, protein supplements, and energy bars, and is very harmful to the brain.

9. Sodium caseinate

People consuming a diet high in dairy products or processed foods have a drastically higher rate of developing autism and gastrointestinal problems because of the presence of this toxin.

10. Yeast extract

You will find yeast extract in a lot of processed foods, like many of the crippling and debilitating toxins on this list. It is often found in canned foods, processed meats, baked goods, sauces and dairy products and is especially toxic to your brain. It is replacing MSG in a lot of foods, as more and more people learn of the dangers of MSG. Yeast extract is preferred by food manufacturers because it sounds like a healthy product, but it is anything but.

11. Ethanol

Relatively low amounts of alcohol can be consumed and actually lend health benefits. Drinking 2 or 3 glasses of wine a week can have a positive effect on your cardiovascular system. Chronic alcohol (ethanol) consumption kills white matter in the brain and slowly breaks down your entire body.

12. Glucose/Fructose

Any food label which claims glucose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup or one of the more than 100 other names sugar is disguised as can lead to any number of health problems. Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, and other serious health issues are directly related to the consumption of the toxic substance we know better as refined sugar.

13. Domoic Acid

Shellfish contain this neurotoxin. It naturally damages the part of your brain associated with moods and emotions, and your ability to learn new things. Though it is almost universally unknown, this is one of the most potent and fast working of all neurotoxins. It can often irreversibly impair your working memory.

14. Soy

The average American gets as much as 10% of his or her total calories from soybean oil alone. Soy is often listed as soy protein isolate, soy flour, soy lecithin and soybean oil. This toxic substance limits the absorption of healthy minerals and vitamins, increases your requirement of vitamin D by up to 50%. Soy also, harms mental functioning and stimulates thyroid problems and cancer growth, especially in women

15. Diacetyl

This neurotoxin is actually found in microwave popcorn. Diacetyl is an additive actually in the butter flavoring and it’s very addictive. This chemical causes a condition known as “microwave popcorn lung.”

Popcorn lung damages your lung’s smallest airways and is also known as bronchiolitis obliterans. This condition makes you feel short of breath and cough.

Diacetyl has the ability to cross the blood brain barier and can cause beta-amyloid clumpting which is an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease.

Conclusion

what are neurotoxins

This rather sobering post can hopefully save your life. There is an old saying that “knowledge is power.” This is not entirely accurate. Knowledge is powerless without action. You now have knowledge of the powerfully damaging effect of neurotoxins, as well as the foods that contain them.

The next step is yours. It is time to take responsible action.

Begin protecting your children, your family and your loved ones by eating smart. Avoid the foods that contain neurotoxins and other poisonous chemicals and substances. This means drastically reducing or totally eliminating your exposure to processed foods.

When you begin eating more food as close to its natural state as possible, fresh and raw, organic fruits and vegetables, nuts and whole grains, you may find you never realized just how unhealthy you were, until you start feeling physically healthy and mentally sharper than you have ever been.