Environmental Medicine

We live in a world of increasing environmental complexity — with exposures to heavy metals, mold, chemicals, pesticides, and other toxins that the human body was never designed to handle at modern levels. For many people, these exposures accumulate silently over years, contributing to symptoms that are real, debilitating, and frequently dismissed by conventional medicine. At Natura, we take environmental medicine seriously — because what you have been exposed to is an essential part of understanding who you are and why you feel the way you do.

Our Approach

The body has remarkable built-in capacity to identify, neutralize, and eliminate environmental toxins — through the liver, the gut, the kidneys, the lymphatic system, the skin, and the lungs. When that capacity is overwhelmed, however, toxins accumulate and begin to disrupt normal physiological function in ways that can affect virtually every body system.

At Natura, our goal is to support the body's own detoxification systems so they can do what they were designed to do — sometimes more effectively on their own with the right support, and sometimes with a targeted therapeutic boost. We use comprehensive environmental testing to identify the specific exposures and burdens each patient is carrying, and we build individualized treatment plans that address those exposures directly while supporting the body's overall detoxification capacity.

We also recognize that environmental exposures rarely affect just one system. Heavy metals, mold, and chemical toxins influence the nervous system, the immune system, the hormonal system, the gut, the cardiovascular system, and more. Our whole-person approach addresses those downstream effects alongside the exposures themselves.

Conditions We Support

Heavy Metal Toxicity
Heavy metals — including lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum, and others — accumulate in tissues over time and can disrupt neurological function, immune regulation, hormonal balance, cardiovascular health, and more. Sources of exposure are often surprisingly common: older housing, certain fish and seafood, contaminated water, occupational exposures, and dental materials, among others.

At Natura, we offer comprehensive heavy metal testing and a full range of detoxification support. Dr. Christine White oversees our IV chelation program — a powerful therapeutic approach that mobilizes and clears heavy metals from the body through intravenous administration. Beyond IV chelation, we support metal detoxification through targeted liver support, herbal medicine, nutritional supplementation, dietary guidance, and other naturopathic detoxification protocols.

For patients who are considering or have undergone dental amalgam removal, we can provide naturopathic support to assist the body in clearing mercury and other metals before and after the procedure. Please discuss this with your provider to determine whether this is relevant to your situation.

Mold Exposure & Mycotoxin Illness
Mold exposure is one of the most underrecognized drivers of chronic illness. Mycotoxins — the toxic compounds produced by certain mold species — can accumulate in the body and trigger a wide array of symptoms including fatigue, brain fog, respiratory symptoms, immune dysfunction, neurological changes, mood disruption, and more. Many patients with significant mycotoxin burden have lived or worked in water-damaged buildings without realizing the connection to their health.

At Natura, we test for mycotoxin burden using urine-based panels that can reveal the presence and degree of mycotoxin exposure. We also recommend that patients investigate their living and working environments for mold — and can provide guidance on connecting with environmental testing services for that purpose. Treatment for mycotoxin illness is individualized and may include binders to help clear mycotoxins from the gut, antifungal support using both herbal and pharmaceutical approaches, targeted supplementation, liver and gut support, and broader detoxification therapies. Our overarching goal is to support the body's own capacity to identify and eliminate these compounds.

Chemical Sensitivities & Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
Multiple chemical sensitivity is a condition in which exposure to low levels of common chemicals — cleaning products, fragrances, pesticides, plastics, and others — triggers significant and often debilitating symptoms. It is frequently dismissed in conventional medicine but is a real and meaningful clinical presentation that we take seriously at Natura. In addition to maintaining a fragrance-free clinic, we support patients with MCS through careful environmental assessment, targeted detoxification support, immune regulation, and individualized strategies for reducing exposure and improving tolerance.

Pesticide, Herbicide & Chemical Exposures
Chronic low-level exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and industrial chemicals is increasingly recognized as a contributor to neurological conditions, hormonal disruption, immune dysfunction, and cancer risk. We test for pesticide and chemical burdens using specialized panels and address identified exposures through targeted naturopathic detoxification support.

Plastics & Endocrine Disruptors
Compounds found in plastics and personal care products — including BPA, phthalates, parabens, and others — are known endocrine disruptors that interfere with hormonal signaling and have been linked to reproductive health concerns, metabolic dysfunction, thyroid disruption, and more. We test for these exposures and address them as part of comprehensive hormonal and environmental health care.

Smoke & Air Quality Exposures
Significant smoke exposure — whether from wildfire smoke, occupational environments, or other sources — can have lasting effects on respiratory health, immune function, and systemic inflammation. We support patients recovering from acute and chronic smoke and air quality exposures as part of our environmental medicine care.

Occupational Exposures
Many patients carry significant environmental burdens as a direct result of their work — in industries involving chemicals, solvents, metals, dust, or other hazardous materials. We support patients with occupational exposure histories through comprehensive environmental testing, detoxification support, and ongoing monitoring of the health effects of workplace exposures.

Water Quality Concerns
Contaminants in drinking water — including heavy metals, PFAS (forever chemicals), nitrates, chlorine byproducts, and others — represent a meaningful and often invisible source of environmental burden. We address water quality concerns as part of comprehensive environmental health evaluation and can help patients understand their exposure risks and take practical steps to reduce them.

Environmental Contributors to Chronic Disease
Environmental exposures frequently contribute to or worsen a wide range of chronic health conditions, including:

Neurological conditions — heavy metals and chemical exposures are well-established neurotoxins and can effect both neurological and mental health
Hormonal disruption — endocrine disruptors and heavy metals interfere directly with hormone production, metabolism, and signaling
Autoimmune conditions — mold, metals, and chemical exposures are recognized triggers for immune dysregulation and autoimmune activity
Cardiovascular health — certain heavy metals and chemical exposures directly affect cardiovascular function
Gut health — environmental toxins disrupt the gut microbiome and intestinal integrity
Cancer risk — environmental exposures are among the most significant modifiable contributors to cancer risk

Identifying environmental burdens requires specialized testing that goes well beyond standard lab panels. At Natura, our environmental testing may include:

Heavy metal testing — we most commonly use urine-based heavy metal panels, which provide a comprehensive picture of metal burden and excretion. We also use hair analysis, blood metal panels, and RBC mineral panels when clinically indicated
Mycotoxin panels — urine-based testing to identify and quantify mycotoxin burden from mold exposure
Pesticide & chemical panels — specialized testing for pesticide residues, herbicides, and industrial chemical exposures
Endocrine disruptor testing — panels assessing BPA, phthalates, parabens, and other hormone-disrupting compounds
Liver and detoxification function markers — assessing the body's current capacity to process and eliminate environmental toxins
Inflammatory markers — systemic inflammation driven by environmental exposures
Comprehensive nutritional assessment — nutritional deficiencies that impair detoxification capacity are extremely common in environmentally burdened patients
Additional panels as indicated — we tailor our environmental testing to each patient's exposure history, symptom pattern, and clinical presentation

Testing We Use

IV chelation therapy — overseen by Dr. Christine White Deeble, our IV chelation program delivers targeted chelating agents intravenously to mobilize and clear heavy metals from the body. This is one of the most powerful tools available for heavy metal detoxification
Liver support — comprehensive naturopathic support for liver detoxification function, including herbal medicine, targeted supplementation, and dietary guidance — because the liver is the body's primary detoxification organ and must be functioning well for any detox program to succeed
Gut support — binders, probiotics, and gut-healing therapies to support toxin elimination through the digestive tract and restore gut integrity disrupted by environmental exposures
Lymphatic support — supporting lymphatic flow and drainage as an important component of the body's detoxification network
Hydrotherapy — we teach patients how to use specific hydrotherapy techniques at home to support detoxification and lymphatic function, and provide individualized guidance on which treatments are most appropriate for their situation
Herbal medicine — a rich botanical toolkit for liver support, drainage, antimicrobial support, immune modulation, and detoxification
Nutritional therapy & supplementation — targeted nutrients essential for detoxification pathways, immune regulation, and tissue repair — individualized based on your testing results
Dietary guidance — individualized dietary support to minimize ongoing exposure, support detoxification, and reduce the inflammatory burden of environmental toxins
Pharmaceutical prescriptions — including pharmaceutical antifungals for mycotoxin illness and other medications when clinically indicated
Referrals & collaborative care — we work alongside toxicologists, occupational medicine specialists, and other providers when the complexity of a patient's environmental exposure history warrants additional specialist involvement

How We Can Help — Therapies We Offer

stainless steel bottle with sliced lemon and white liquid

Natura Providers Specializing in Environmental Medicine

Dr. Christine White Deeble

Dr. Michael Smith

Dr. Kendra Featherman

Dr. White oversees all IV chelation therapies at Natura. She works in a team-based setting with Dr. Smith and Dr. Featherman to provide comprehensive environmental support for patients at Natura.

Your Environment Is Part of Your Diagnosis

If you have been living with complex, unexplained symptoms — and no one has yet asked you what you have been exposed to — it may be time for a different kind of evaluation. At Natura, we look at the full picture of your health, including the world you live and work in.