Stay away from detox ‘scams’. No single food or drink can be your medical miracle

Toxin is a word that terrifies us. The idea of ​​removing toxins using various therapies sounds refreshing and is worth a try. Unfortunately, detox therapies are nothing more than myths.

Detoxifying your body with food and drink is now a popular trend. We have become obsessed with the idea of ​​a ‘detox’. ‘Green Superfood Detox’, ‘Rapid Liver Detox’, ‘Nine Natural Detox Foods’, ‘Detox Roti’, ‘Colon Cleanse Drinks’: The Detox ‘Industry’ Has Taken Over the Wellness Sector and is Growing Exponentially . Detoxification therapy upholds the belief that the body can be purged of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs through specific treatments. However, the concept that you can cleanse your body after a party, festival, or binge weekend is a myth in medical science. It is a scam that is tied to our rational thinking.

There are an endless number of detox foods, supplements, and drinks available on the Indian market that claim to cleanse your body, remove toxins from your system, or help you lose weight. Detox products include herbs, juices, teas, and other dietary supplements that promise to cleanse the colon and liver. Often these products are not regulated by a competent authority to assess safety and efficacy. Additionally, most detox products that claim to promote weight loss do not provide strong scientific evidence to support long-term benefits. Consequently, consuming these ‘magic’ elixirs, made from unregulated ingredients, poses a serious health threat with limited or no benefits.

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The body detoxifies itself

We consume environmental toxins every day, and our bodies also produce some toxins as a byproduct of digestion and metabolism. Specific physiological processes help remove these toxins from our body through the liver, lungs, kidneys, and digestive system without the need for external “detoxification agents.”

Detox products are primarily aimed at cleansing the liver. Protein is metabolized in the liver to produce ammonia, which can be toxic to the body if present in large amounts. By converting ammonia to urea, the liver releases it through urine from the body.

Similarly, the kidneys also remove harmful toxins. The intestine destroys and eliminates foreign substances and pathogens, and the skin releases toxins through sweat. A healthy lifestyle can keep these organs functioning optimally, eliminating the need for detox therapy and saving you a lot of time and money.

There is no medical evidence to confirm the benefits of diets, supplements or detox drinks. Detoxification therapies that are aimed at weight loss produce short-term results because they involve a low-calorie diet that supplements solid foods with liquids and juices. Once the diet is ended and normal eating is resumed, the weight is quickly regained.

TO study in overweight Korean women evaluated the efficacy of a lemon detox diet that allowed participants to drink a mixture of palm or maple syrup and lemon juice for seven days. Although the results indicated significant weight loss, improvement in body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio, percentage of body fat, better insulin resistance, etc., it did not provide information on the results. once the women began to eat normally.

A severely restricted calorie juicing diet can definitely lead to weight loss and improvements in crucial metabolic health markers, but any low calorie weight loss diet would produce the same results. a critic revision on detox diets for toxin elimination and weight management in 2015 reported no randomized controlled trials (the gold standard in research) that have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of commercial detox diets in humans. A 2019 study where participants were fed herbal supplements at 1,350 mg/serving for four weeks, no beneficial effects on body composition or the digestive system were documented.

All said and done, there is no way to benefit from lemon ginger water or cinnamon and honey, green tea, or cucumber and mint juices if your daily diet is chock full of calories, sugar, trans fat, and other processed foods. No single food, drink, or supplement can be your medical miracle.

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Detox therapies can be risky

Side effects of detoxification therapies include nutritional deficiencies, liver damage, excessive consumption, etc. Long-term detoxification therapies are deficient in multiple micronutrients and proteins and can cause nutritional deficiency disorders such as anemia, protein-energy malnutrition, muscle loss, heart palpitations, weak immune system, etc. Interestingly, most detox diets lack protein, a crucial nutrient to promote the enzymatic reactions necessary for the body’s natural detoxification mechanism. Detox or cleansing juices absence dietary fiber: a fundamental component to guarantee the optimal functioning of the intestinal microbiota and the digestive system.

Surprisingly, detox teas and supplements that aim to “cleanse” the liver are often reported to fatally damage the organ. a 60 year old woman reported acute liver failure from drinking liver detox tea for 14 days. The tea’s ingredient list contained six ingredients known to have hepatotoxic effects, according to the authors. Green tea extracts, a common ingredient in many detox supplements, have been found to elevate biomarkers such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) that are associated with an increased risk of liver damage.

The bottom line is: You don’t need a detox product to cleanse your organs or your entire body. Such products are expensive, nutritionally deficient, contain hepatotoxic ingredients, and are not regulated for safe consumption. To keep your built-in detoxification system running smoothly, a balanced diet based on whole foods, combined with regular physical activity, is necessary. Don’t be fooled by detox scams, follow the science.

Dr. Subhasree Ray is a doctoral fellow (ketogenic diet), certified diabetes educator, and clinical and public health nutritionist. She tweets @DrSubhasree. Views are personal.

(Edited by Srinjoy Dey)