Whole body detoxification has fans, but most medical experts say the only thing cleaned out is bank accounts
Don’t be surprised if a clean-living friend tells you they’re going through `detox.’Odds are they’re not talking about treatment for alcohol or drug addiction.Nor are they referring to the term’s other definitions – the elimination of waste products from blood through dialysis, or the elimination of excess metals through chelation therapy. The word detox, short for detoxification, has expanded to include the removal of toxins, often of an undefined nature, from the entire body. The theory is, the body’s cleaning system, which includes the liver, kidney, lungs, gastrointestinal tract and skin, needs help removing an ever-increasing onslaught of toxins, or poisons.The list of toxins that detox advocates condemn is long and includes contaminants in the air, water and food supply. They may come from junk food, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, over-the-counter medicines or dental fillings.
Marketing opportunity:Where there’s a health trend, there’s a marketing opportunity. A plethora of new books, Web sites, and ads advocate programs and products for eliminating toxins through – deep breath, please – specific diets and exercise routines, herbs, teas, oxygenated water, hydrotherapy, electromagnetic therapy, enemas, gall bladder flushes, clay baths and fasting. Plug in the word detox at www.amazon.com, and hundreds of selections pop up.The recommendations from some detox programs, such as eating fresh, whole foods and drinking plenty of water, are sound and could benefit health, medical professionals say”That’s just common sense,” said Dr. Philip Wood, a genetics professor and senior scientist at the Clinical Nutrition Research Center at UAB.Other recommendations, such ingesting dandelion root and milk thistle to cleanse your liver, or wearing foot pads treated with wood vinegar, bamboo sap and tourmaline to extract toxins, raise the `snake oil’ radar of mainstream medical professionals, who say the only thing these programs are guaranteed to decrease is your bank account.”There’s no scientific evidence that taking colonics and fruit flushes or any of that stuff is helpful,” said Dr. Michael Turner, an internal medicine physician in Calera. On second thought, “It’s helpful for the people selling it.”The British nonprofit group Sense about Science, which promotes the benefits of scientific research, recently denounced detox products in a report that states: “They waste money and sow confusion about how our bodies, nutrition and chemistry actually work.”Practitioners at the Center for Mind Body Medicine at Spa Moksha off U.S. 280 say their detox treatments, including herbalized steam treatments, oil enemas and therapeutic vomiting, work because they’re individualized treatments based on Ayurvedic medicine, which originated more than 5,000 years ago in India and is recognized by the World Health Organization.
Everyone is different:”You have to be careful,” said Ayurvedic practitioner Drew Reardon. “Everyone is different.”Dr. Elson Haas, a San Rafael, Calif., physician whose most recent book is “The New Detox Diet,” said he became a detox believer in 1975, when he embarked on a 10-day “juice cleanse.” His health improved so dramatically that he repeats the cleanse every spring, he says.
Detox doesn’t have to mean a fast, though, Haas said, during a phone interview from his office. It can mean eating natural foods and getting more sleep, or getting rid of habits such as caffeine or nicotine.
Programs aimed at detoxing from any and all toxins are “nebulous,” UAB’s Wood said. They differ dramatically from treatments to detox from a single substance, such as alcohol.
“That’s a true detox,” he said. “There’s a clear way to evaluate it.”
For would-be detoxers, Wood suggests they ask the following questions – all of which are difficult to find answers to:
How do you know what to ingest to clear the presumed toxins?
What are the detox levels for these toxins, and how do you know when you’re detoxed?
How do you avoid becoming intoxicated by the detox treatment?
The bottom line, mainstream medical professionals say, is that your body was designed to purify itself and usually will do that if you take care of it.
“A healthy diet with fruits and vegetables and lean meats and low in saturated fat definitely will promote health,” said Susan Stone, a registered dietitian at St. Vincent’s Wellness Services. “That’s what you need to do rather than relying on a detox diet.”
KATHY SEALE
News staff writer The Birmingham News E-mail: kseale@bhamnews.com