Detoxification (alternative medicine)

This article is about alternative medicine approach. For the drug rehabilitation practice, see Detoxification.

Detoxification in the context of alternative medicine is an approach that claims to rid the body of "toxins" – accumulated harmful substances that are alleged to exert undesirable effects on individual health in the short or long term. Detoxification usually includes one or more of: dieting, fasting, consuming exclusively or avoiding specific foods (such as fats, carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, juices, herbs, or water), colon cleansing, chelation therapy, or the removal of dental fillings.

Body cleansing has been described by scientists as "a waste of time and money" and there is no clinical evidence that it is effective. The "toxins" are usually undefined, with little to no evidence for toxic accumulation in the patient.

Background

The premise of body cleansing is based on the Ancient Egyptian and Greek idea of autointoxication, in which foods consumed or in the humoral theory of health that the four humours themselves can putrefy and produce toxins that harm the body. Biochemistry and microbiology appeared to support the theory in the 19th century, but by the early twentieth century, detoxification based approaches quickly fell out of favour. Despite abandonment by mainstream medicine, the idea has persisted in the popular imagination and amongst alternative medicine practitioners. In recent years, notions of body cleansing have undergone something of a resurgence, along with many other alternative medical approaches. Nonetheless, mainstream medicine continues to produce evidence that the field is unscientific and anachronistic.

Types

Detox diets

Detox diets are dietary plans that claim to have detoxifying effects. The general idea suggests that most food is contaminated by various ingredients deemed unnecessary for human life, such as flavor enhancers, food colorings, pesticides, and preservatives. Scientists, dietitians, and doctors, while generally judging "detox diets" to be harmless (unless nutritional deficiency results), often dispute the value and need of "detox diets", due to lack of supporting factual evidence or coherent rationale. In cases where a person is actually suffering from a disease, belief in the efficacy of a detox diet can result in delay or failure to seek effective treatment. Detox diets can involve consuming extremely limited foods (only water or juice, a form of fasting known as juice fasting), eliminating certain foods from the diet (such as fats), or eliminating processed foods and irritants from the diet. Detox diets are often high in fiber. Proponents claim that this will cause the body to burn accumulated stored fats, releasing fat-stored "toxins" into the blood, which can then be eliminated through the blood, skin, urine, feces and breath. Proponents claim that things such as an altered body odor support the notion that detox diets are working; this claim has been criticized for misinterpreting the body undergoing ketosis. Although a brief fast of a single day is unlikely to cause harm, prolonged fasting (as recommended by certain detox diets) can have dangerous health consequences or can even be fatal.

Colon cleansing

Main article: colon cleansing

Colon cleansing is giving an enema (colonic) containing some salt, and sometimes coffee or herbs to remove food that remains in the colon and rots, producing symptoms and general ill-health. However the colon usually does not require any help cleaning itself. The large amount of water with large surface contact to the bloodstream through the intestines will however remove toxins from the blood/body tissues through diffusion, as well as removing helpful molecules. The practice can be potentially dangerous if incorrectly practised.

Heavy metals

Detoxification may be employed as a quack treatment to address the false notion that mercury poisoning arises from dental amalgam fillings – Quackwatch states: "Removing good fillings is not merely a waste of money. In some cases, it results in tooth loss because when fillings are drilled out, some of the surrounding tooth structure will be removed with it."

There are many herbal compounds designed and marketed to help the body excrete toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury. Among those, a common basic ingredient is often the herb Cilantro (Chinese Parsley) and/or Chlorella.^{[citation needed]}

"Detoxification" devices

See also: Energy medicine

Certain devices are promoted to allegedly remove toxins from the body. One version is a foot bath using a mild electrical current, while another involves small adhesive pads applied to the skin (usually the foot). In both cases, the production of an alleged brown "toxin" appears after a brief delay. In the case of the foot bath, the "toxin" is actually small amounts of rusted iron leaching from the electrodes. The adhesive pads change color due to oxidation of the pads' ingredients in response to the skin's moisture. In both cases, the same color changes occur irrespective of whether the water or patch even make contact with the skin (they merely require water—thus proving the color change is not a result of any body detoxification process).

Criticism

Body cleansing and detoxification have been referred to as an elaborate hoax used by con artists to cure nonexistent illnesses. Some doctors contend that the "toxins" in question do not even exist. Medical experts state that body cleansing is unnecessary as the human body is naturally capable of maintaining itself, with several organs dedicated to cleansing the blood and gut. Professor Alan Boobis OBE, Toxicologist, Division of Medicine, Imperial College London states that

The body’s own detoxification systems are remarkably sophisticated and versatile. They have to be, as the natural environment that we evolved in is hostile. It is remarkable that people are prepared to risk seriously disrupting these systems with unproven ‘detox’ diets, which could well do more harm than good.

The apparently satisfied testimonial and anecdotal accounts by customers can often be explained by astroturfing companies or individuals creating false anecdotes, legitimate customers who are experiencing the placebo effect after using the products, natural recovery from an actual illness that would have occurred without the use of the product, psychological improvements on illnesses that are psychosomatic or the result of neurosis, or the lack of a larger number of dissatisfied customers not posting equally applicable anecdotes about their poorer experiences.

External links

• Carroll, RT (24 April 2010). "Detoxification therapies". Skepdic.com. Retrieved 23 June 2010.