While we must drink, eat, and breathe to provide the nutrients needed to build and maintain our bodies’ cells, we must also remove any metabolic waste products produced by these cells. Plus, we must also rid our bodies of any substances that are either harmful or no longer of use.

We excrete these wastes by breathing, sweating, urinating and defecating.

Breathing facilitates the removal of metabolic by-products like carbon dioxide. Breathing can also eliminate volatile toxicants such as ethanol or pesticidal fumigants, as well as volatile metabolites including acetone and carbon dioxide.

There are about 2.6 million sweat glands that regulate body temperature via sweating. While sweat consists mostly of blood plasma, apocrine sweat from our armpit and genital areas also contain proteins and fatty acids. Sweat is odorless. The odor can come from the bacteria present on hair and skin, which metabolizes the proteins and fatty acids of apocrine sweat. Without regular washing, some of this sweat can be absorbed by clothing or reabsorbed back into the blood via the skin.

The kidneys are primarily organs of excretion and elimination. The kidneys account for most by-products of normal body metabolism. They are also are the primary organs for excretion of polar drugs and metabolites, such as pesticides and drugs. The kidneys remove urea from protein metabolism, creatinine from muscle metabolism, uric acid from nucleic acids, bilirubin from red blood cells, and broken-down products of hormones. One liter of blood flows into the kidney every minute and from that, one milliliter of urine is produced every minute.

The liver produces bile, which aids in the digestion of fats in the small intestine. Excess bile is stored in the gall bladder. Bile is made up of bilious salts and pigment, which come from the breakdown of red blood cells, cholesterol, and lecithin. Bile emulsifies fats, making them easier to digest. It also helps eliminate toxins, heavy metals, drugs, and other harmful chemicals. These are delivered to the small intestine and removed in the feces. Some of these can be reabsorbed through the enterohepatic cycle back into the blood from the small and large intestine.

Undigested food enters our colon, which is about 1.5 meters in length. It takes from eight to twelve hours for this stool to pass through our colon into our rectum. During this time, up to ten liters of gas is produced in our colon daily. Less than 1 liter exits as flatus. So where does this gas go? Where does this gas come from?

The quadrillion bacteria in our colon feast on the undigested food and multiply, producing metabolic waste products, such as acids, enzymes and gases. Most of this gas is absorbed into the blood and transported to the liver, which detoxifies the majority.

A rising epidemic of constipation from a diet of processed foods lacking fiber, and a lack of physical activity , compounds the problem of waste retention. This can also add pressure to the abdomen, when wastes should instead be excreted from the body regularly.

Timely, regular elimination of metabolic waste products and harmful chemicals is an important part of keeping our blood clean, and our bodies healthy.