
“Zombie cells” may be silently accelerating aging inside your body. Dr. Josh Axe explains how your liver works behind the scenes to remove these dysfunctional cells—and the simple daily habits that can help support this powerful detox process.
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plus@onepelaton.com so many people today are suffering with cellular toxicity. And if you have cellular toxicity, it can be damaging your cell membranes. It can be blocking your cell receptor sites, which is causing hormone imbalance. They can be damaging your mitochondria. So now your cells aren't functioning properly, which those cells run your organs, and those organs are sick because of what's going on in your cell. And if we can detoxify and heal the cell now, now your body can finally heal. It can finally get well. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Here's how many of these toxins start to age our cells. Excess toxins drive free radical buildup. When antioxidants can't keep up, like glutathione, your cells ess start to rust from the inside. Or imagine this. You take a bite of an apple, okay? You know where all the antioxidants are on an apple, on the skin, right? That dark red or green color you're going to see there when you take a bite of the apple, what immediately starts to happen? It starts to turn brown, okay? It starts to rust. It starts to decay. It starts to age. That same thing happens when your glutathione reserves run out or other types of antioxidants. The polyphenols. The polyphenols found in things like extra virgin olive oil, the flavonoids found in berries, those start to run out. Well, now all of a sudden, your cells start to rust and decay. And this damages your DNA, your mitochondria, your cell membranes, leaving you sick, disrupting your hormones and aging you more quickly. One of the things that also happens during this process is something called cellular senescence. Okay? It increases Cellular senescence. And here's what that is. There's something called the Hayflick and Moorhead discovery, and this is where they found the that cells stop dividing after about 50 divisions. Okay? So your cells divide, divide, divide over time. You wanna do this, by the way, to a degree. And this is a normal conservation process in the body of cell turnover. But what happens is once Those cells multiply 50 times, they sit there and they don't function well anymore. Imagine, you know, once you've used something so many times, it just stops working, okay? It gets worn out. That's what happens. And these cells are called senescent cells, which now many researchers called zombie ce. They secrete inflammatory chemicals called SASP that basically they secrete poisons that damage other cells in your body. So clearing out these zombie cells is critical for our overall health. And the process in the body that clears out these senescent cells is called autophagy. And this is where you have these things in your cells. They're called lysosomes. Okay, so we talked about the mitochondria. The mitochondria produce energy for the cell. Well, the lysosomes are the waste management and recycling company of your cells that go and clear out all of these senescent cells and toxins from your cells. And if your body's not doing that properly as well, you start to have shortened telomeres, which means you're aging more quickly. And the best way to take care of this is to practice fasting, exercise and consuming very, very specific, nutrient dense foods like fruit and vegetables. Omega 3 fatty acids, these are the things that are going to accelerate your autophagy. And so focusing on supporting your cellular health with fruit, with vegetables, with specific supplements, with infrared sauna, with a lot of these different techniques I'm going to get into in a minute. It's critical for your cellular health. And I do want to focus on not the cell for a moment, but an organ that is responsible for detoxification, and that is your liver. Okay. Your liver as an organ is your detox command center. It filters toxins from the blood, it produces bile for fat digestion and hormone metabolism. Your liver is primarily responsible for getting rid of excess estrogen and keeping your estrogen levels balanced, of course, which is critical for men and women. And so we need to do everything we can to keep your liver running smoothly. Now, one of my favorite pioneers for liver detoxification is Dr. Max Gershon. In fact, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer many years ago, one of the primary diets we studied, looked into, and incorporated part of into my mom's cancer protocol was gerson therapy. And Dr. Max Gerson discovered that healing migraines in TB patients relied heavily on detoxification and nutrients. So here's what he said. He said, if you're going to heal everything from cancer to migraine headaches, we have to detoxify the liver. We have to focus on reducing toxicity, and we need to focus on getting the body enough nutrients. So he really believed healing was about addressing deficiencies and toxicities. And the theory is that disease can be cured by removing toxins from the body, boosting the immune system, and replacing excess salt in the body with potassium. There's something called your body's sodium potassium pump, which is another way of detoxifying the cell. And he believed that the liver is the center of the restoration process and that if the liver damaged, then treatment cannot be effective. His daughter Charlotte carried the therapy worldwide, spreading the principle that cellular and liver detox is key to healing. You know, I'm thinking about a patient, Donna, I was recently working with in the virtual practice and working with her who was very sick. And when she came in, we did a combination of things. We did a little bit of blood work. I did something called a tongue diagnosis. And her looking at her patient history and she. Her body was toxic. One way I can tell this in Chinese medicine is if the col. If somebody's tongue has an underlying bluish purple color, that's called, in Chinese medicine, liver stagnation. It means the liver is really blocked and backed up. Now, from her history as well, she was dealing with chronic constipation. That's another big warning sign. When people hear constipation, they think, oh, that's a digestive or colon issue. Actually, the liver is greatly responsible for as well, moving your bowels. And she had all of these other health problems, everything from brain fog to major hormone imbalances. And she was just really tired and sick. And we also found that she had the MTHFR gene. And so we looked at that. And so I put her on a protocol which included juicing some vegetables, doing a lot of fruits and vegetables, doing things like spirulina chlorella. We did some N acetylcysteines to support glutathione, and just put her on a really advanced detoxification protocol. After three months, her brain fog lifted, her resilience returned. Actually, she was able to get married, even have a baby, and. And her health was completely renewed. But she had been to 10 other doctors both conventional and natural and they weren't able to figure out what was going on. And her blood work really was pretty normal. That's the thing. The only thing that was slightly off on her was her estradiol levels, but outside of that everything looked normal and doctors just wanted to put her on things like birth control and other things rather than getting to the root of the issue which is fixing the cell and the liver. And remember, these small choices add up to big shifts in how your body heals and functions. And when clear the toxic load, you give yourselves the freedom now to regenerate and heal. You're then able to reclaim your energy, restore your focus and you step back into the life you were created to live. By the way, I want to mention I'm offering a simple at home blood test that actually tests for the right things, targeted biomarkers including hormones, thyroid and metabolism. Plus a full hour with one of my senior health advisors to help you understand your results. So if you are interested in learning more about the blood work and getting testing done, that's very cost effective to understand the root of your issues, you can go to mybloodwork.com that's mybloodwork.com and get testing I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Jack show where each and every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually and take your health and your life to the next level. Also, don't forget to subscribe. It's the number one thing you can do to support the show. And because so many of you are subscribed, it allows us to bring in these amazing high profile guests. And also if you're not subscribed, there are some controversial topics we dive into like toxicity and cancer and peptides that get shadow banned. So if you're not subscribed on YouTube especially, you're not going to be able to see that. So make sure you subscribe as well so you get our best of content. Also, thanks so much for liking, commenting and sharing on these episodes. I'll see you on the next one.
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Episode: Get Rid of Zombie Cells: Your Liver’s Role in Cellular Detox
Host: Dr. Josh Axe
Date: March 9, 2026
In this episode, Dr. Josh Axe delves into the critical roles of cellular health, detoxification, and the liver in maintaining overall wellness. He explores how cellular toxicity leads to aging, hormone imbalance, and chronic disease, discusses the role of “zombie cells” (senescent cells), and shares practical strategies for supporting detoxification—especially via liver health. Dr. Axe also draws on personal anecdotes and insights from both modern and traditional medicine, with a special spotlight on the Gerson Therapy, highlighting the synergy between nutrition, autophagy, and detoxification.
On the Risk of Toxins and Cellular Health:
“If we can detoxify and heal the cell now, now your body can finally heal. It can finally get well.” (01:00)
Redefining Liver’s Importance:
“Your liver is your detox command center. It filters toxins from the blood, produces bile for fat digestion, and hormone metabolism.” (05:05)
Personal Anecdote on Healing:
“She had been to 10 other doctors both conventional and natural and they weren’t able to figure out what was going on...Doctors just wanted to put her on things like birth control...rather than getting to the root of the issue which is fixing the cell and the liver.” (08:20)
Final Empowerment:
“When you clear the toxic load, you give your cells the freedom now to regenerate and heal. You’re then able to reclaim your energy, restore your focus and you step back into the life you were created to live.” (09:09)
Dr. Josh Axe’s episode provides both a science-backed and holistic perspective on cellular detox, aging, and liver health. The dialogue emphasizes removing the root causes of illness—cellular toxicity and liver congestion—using a balance of nutrition, traditional wisdom (like Gerson Therapy and Chinese diagnostics), targeted supplementation, and lifestyle interventions. Through relatable analogies, concrete case studies, and actionable advice, Dr. Axe inspires listeners to take proactive steps toward detoxification and true healing.