Everything around us impacts our health - the air we breathe, the food we eat, and what we put on our skin.

Our bodies can process some toxins, but if we are overexposed, they accumulate in the organs and tissues of the body.

This is called body burden.

The level of a person's body burden is affected by:

• Age

• Gender

• Other conditions and diseases

• Eating habits

• Genetics

Each person will respond differently to toxins. Different factors include the amount of toxin, time between being exposed, length of repeat exposure, and interaction with other chemicals.

“Our concern is daily, weekly, chronic exposure over a lifetime. Maybe if you’re exposed to a chemical a handful of times it wouldn’t cause harm, but some chemicals build up enough or cause enough harm in your body over time that it triggers some kind of disease outcome. The concept [of body burden] is that pollution is not just in our air and in our water — it’s also in us.”

-Rebecca Sutton, PhD, senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group (EWG)

Body burden is linked with numerous health issues like brain development problems, diabetes, obesity, and asthma.

You have the ability to reduce your exposure by:

• Choosing safer cleaning and personal care products

• Reducing your exposure to pesticides

• Eating organic foods

• Avoiding the use of plastics

Body burden is the crux of why being a conscious consumer is so important. While we may not have complete control over the air we breathe, and often the water we drink and food we eat, we DO have control over what we put on our skin and what we bring into our homes.