How to mitigate PFAS damage and eliminate these 'Forever Chemicals' from your body

Caryn Lipson

March 3, 2024

Story in a flash:

PFAS chemicals, called “Forever Chemicals,” are associated with health problems, yet are difficult to remove from the body.
People can reduce their risk of harm by avoiding PFAS-containing products and eating fiber-rich foods, herbs, and nutrients which may assist in their removal and damage mitigation.
Although a global health problem, it may not be possible to eliminate all PFAS use.

Toxic PFAS prove difficult to remove from the body

Found in everything from semiconductors to clothing and textiles, biosolids (aka sewage waste) fertilizer to food packaging, and the foods we eat, toxic PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have undermined global health for decades.

Even though the FDA has announced that these chemicals are being removed from food contact packaging, and the federal government and states are working to eliminate some of them from other products and the environment, there remains the problem of how to remove them from the body. This is because they are also known as “Forever chemicals,” having long half-lives of two to seven years.

CDC suggests testing people for PFAS — is it practical?

Recently, the CDC suggested that doctors consider randomly testing people’s PFAS levels.

ABC News’s GMA Health Alert anchor Kelly McCarthy and co-anchor Dr. Jennifer Ashton discussed the CDC’s recommendation. Some people, Ashton said, may have more exposure to these chemicals than others, such as people who live near landfills, water sewage treatment plants, and airports or those who have occupational exposure due to the use of these products, such as firefighters, since it’s in foam, and ski manufacturers, since it’s in ski wax.

Ashton says that clinicians are unsure about testing because they have no treatment to suggest for patients with PFAS in their blood and there are risks to testing.

Some ways to eliminate exposure and mitigate damage

Joseph Pizzorno, ND, editor in chief of the Integrative Medicine Journal, explained in his article “Fluorocarbons (PFAS)—The Forever Chemicals,” that PFAS,

are excreted through urine, menstrual blood, breast milk, and stool but not through sweat. Most of the detoxification is through the liver, though mechanisms are unclear. In general, the longer the chain and the more saturation with fluorine the slower the detoxification.

Because PFAS are particularly difficult to remove from the body, Pizzorno recommends avoidance as the best way to reduce your risk and increasing dietary fiber to increase their elimination:

As is usual with toxins, avoidance is the key. Since the main source of PFAS, by far, is food (but may also be water, if the ultrashort-chain PFAS are shown to be significant), addressing the food-packaging problem will be hugely successful. The best way to accomplish this is to not eat out, NEVER eat microwave popcorn, and replace all kitchen storage and cookware with those made from glass, stainless steel, or ceramics. Carbon block filters are effective at removing PFAS from water.

. . . As would be expected, increasing dietary fiber definitely increases the rate of excretion in the stool. The rate of excretion can also be increased through the use of bile sequestrants, such as cholestyramine.

He suggests some herbs and nutrients to help mitigate the damage caused by these toxins:

Finally, several herbs and nutrients can help prevent the damage caused by PFAS. Curcumin has been shown in cell cultures to decrease DNA damage. Vitamin C blunts insulin resistance in humans. Blueberries were shown in an animal study to decrease PFAS neurotoxicity.

The EPA also has recommendations to help people reduce their risk, including avoiding fish from contaminated waterways. To find out which waters are contaminated, the EPA has a list of state, territory, and tribal fish advisory contacts who can provide information on local waterways.

Hard choices

The below Bloomberg Investigates video, titled “The Forever Chemical Scandal,” reveals that PFAS are a global problem — PFAS have been found as far away as the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and in rainwater in the Antarctic and Himalayas.

Living without PFAS may not be entirely practical, either, as Bloomberg News's Tiffany Kary states (@44:07):

And it's not like we can just stop making PFAS altogether. They're in some really important products, like stents and medical devices and semiconductors. The next challenge is really gonna be deciding which uses are essential and which ones we can live without.

Consumers also have to make a choice about whether they're willing to live without some of the convenience. You know, are we willing to get our feet wet and wear leather shoes that haven't been waterproofed? Are we willing to have fabric on our couches that get stained?

I think that a PFAS-free future is a very hard goal to think about. I don't know that that's ever achievable.