Dhru Purohit Show
Integrative Doctor Shares the Dangers of Microwaving Plastic, Eating Canned Foods and Top Sources of Endocrine Disruptors and How Simple Swaps in Our Home Make a Huge Difference with Dr. Vivian Chen
21 May 2025
This episode is brought to you by Lumebox, Cozy Earth, and Ollie. We don’t often think of our homes as a source of toxins—but many of the most common exposures are hiding right where we cook, eat, breathe, and sleep. Not sure where to start when it comes to removing them? You’re not alone. Today’s guest is here to simplify the process, breaking down the top toxin exposures with a tiered ranking and showing you exactly what to remove, replace, or swap first for the biggest impact. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, Dhru sits down with Dr. Vivian Chen to uncover the top sources of toxins hiding in your home. Dr. Chen shares must-do swaps in the kitchen, covering everything from cookware and food storage to baking essentials. She also offers practical tips to support your body’s natural detoxification and elimination process through simple lifestyle habits. Dr. Chen dives into the hidden toxins in feminine hygiene products and the safer alternatives. If you’re looking for simple, actionable strategies to reduce your daily exposure to toxins, this episode is a must-listen. Dr. Vivian Chen (MBBS, MRCP, MRCGP) is a UK-trained medical doctor with 15 years of clinical experience in internal medicine and family practice, and the co-founder of LUMEBOX, the leading portable red light therapy company. Now based in California, she traded her prescription pad for a deeper mission: helping people uncover and address the root causes of their health struggles—from mitochondrial dysfunction to environmental toxicity. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Chen dive into: The best and worst types of cookware (00:24) The connection between cooking with cast iron and iron levels (4:02) Common sources of endocrine disruptors (5:05) Microwave-safe plastic containers and recommended changes when using plastic (8:15) Canned foods and how toxic exposure can vary based on your choices (14:55) Top sources of toxins in daily life and how to improve indoor air quality (18:12) The dangers of using aluminum foil to wrap food (29:13) Unbleached parchment paper, silicone cookware, and stainless steel storage (35:09) Constipation, detoxification, and the importance of tracking fiber intake (46:13) Exercise and its full-body detoxification benefits (56:53) How to support the body’s natural detoxification pathways (59:58) Different types of saunas and their detox benefits (1:08:21) Red light therapy: how to use it and its full-body benefits (1:12:18) How sleep supports detoxification and the top causes of poor sleep (1:21:48) The risks of using paper cups daily and the benefits of reusable alternatives (1:34:08) Why conventional paper receipts pose health risks (1:36:53) How scented candles impact indoor air quality (1:39:32) The effects of traditional feminine hygiene products on health (1:41:48) Final thoughts and where to follow Dr. Chen’s work (1:56:56) Also mentioned in this episode: EWG Bristol Stool Chart Lupini Beans King Grove Organic Farm Try This: Surprising Findings from a Major Report On Microplastics For more on Dr. Chen, follow her on Instagram, LinkedIn, and her Website. This episode is brought to you by Lumebox, Cozy Earth, and Ollie. Lumebox is offering my community $280 off their FDA-registered portable Red Light device! That's over 44% off! Go to thelumebox.com/dhru and get your Red Light device. Right now, get 40% off your Cozy Earth sheets. Just head over to cozyearth.com/dhru and use code DHRUP. Want to give your dog the best in clean eating? Take the online quiz and introduce Ollie to your pet. Right now, Ollie is offering 60% off your first box of meals when you subscribe today! Just head to Ollie.com, use the code DHRU, and you’ll get 60% off your first box of meals in your subscription. Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Dr. Vivian Chen, welcome to the podcast. Today, we're talking about the top sources of toxins in our home that cause this everyday exposure that so many people are worried about. And what we're going to have you do is we're going to have you rank some of the common ones that are there in our own households. And I want to start off with a big one. And that's the idea of cookware.
Talk to us about cookware and what is the worst type of cookware that we want to all be avoiding.
Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. I'm a big fan of yours. And this sounds so fun. So cookware is like something I use every single day, multiple times a day. And hopefully a lot of people are cooking at home. So, you know, that's really healthy to cook at home. But what you cook in can determine whether you're exposed to endocrine disruptors or and forever chemicals.
So Teflon was very popular, right? Because everybody loves to cook the eggs on it. It slides right off. It's easy to clean, but it leaches PFAS, these forever chemicals. And these chemicals have been shown in studies to affect our fertility, our immune health. It can cause pregnancy complications. It's been linked to certain cancers like testicular and kidneys.
And the biggest problem with it is that it sticks around in our bodies. It's called forever chemicals, right? So it's really difficult to get rid of in our environment and in our bodies. So PFAS is actually now found in 45% of U.S. tap water because it lingers around so much. So if we're rating cookware, then, you know, the Teflon, the black, shiny looking nonstick cookware is an F for sure.
OK, I will never cook in those. You never want it. So on our tiering system where F is the worst and then we have S is supreme on top. You're putting Teflon cookware as an F. Correct.
Yeah. And if it's scratched, it will be a sub F, F minus, because when it's scratched, it actually releases more PFAS into your food.
You travel a lot. You see people. You go into people's home. Are people still using Teflon cookware? Yes.
Yeah. When I travel and I go into Airbnbs, that's when I see those cookware. So people are really attached to Teflon because nonstick. And, you know, when I tell them not to, they go into this huge panic. Like, what do I use instead? How do you cook eggs? That's the biggest question I get asked. And what do you say to that? cast iron.
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