“New” Diet Reduces Bodily Toxins in Just 5 Days

Just kidding. You don’t have to call, simply read on:
I don’t mean to proselytize, but a new study just demonstrated one of the powerful effects of changing to a vegetarian diet: significantly reduced bodily levels of harmful environmental compounds.  Published in the journal Environmental Research this year, the study analyzed participant levels of antibiotics and phthalate metabolites (compounds that are formed once they react with the body) before and after a 5-day “temple stay”.   While at the Guemsan Temple in Korea, the participants practiced a vegetarian diet and followed the daily routines of Buddhist monks.  They gave to the researchers a urine sample right before entering into the program and then once more shortly before the temple stay’s termination.  They also provided the researchers with accounts of the typical eating habits and the amount of tap water they drank (again, before and after).

All targeted compounds were found to be significantly lower after their five-day vegetarian diet.  Since no participants had a recent medication history and water inatke did not correlate with levels of contaminants, the authors conclude that the dietary change was responsible for the reduction.   The linear trends in animal product consumption and urinary levels of phthalates/antibiotics before the participants did the temple stay also suggest that diet is a substantial contributor to “inadvertent exposure”–The more animal products are eaten, the higher the exposure to these kinds of environmental contaminants.
It is important to note that while there was a significant reduction in the amount of antibiotic and phthalate compounds due to the vegetarian diets, the levels of antibiotics and phthalates never exceeded  “acceptable” or “tolerable” levels beforehand.  Of course, what you find to be acceptable for your body may be different from what the government has declared to be safe (with plenty of input from the relevant industries, I’m sure).
Anyhow, what this study shows superbly is that even short-term changes in your diet can really improve your bodys’ well-being.  It gives a whole new meaning to healthy eating, doesn’t it?