Questions about Detox Products

How can we assess the claims that we need to detox our bodies? And how can we check what detox products actually do? And how can we know if the manufacturers are making credible claims for their products? Although it might seem difficult, we can assess these claims and make our own judgement about them.

Do toxins accumulate in the body?

The first thing we need to establish is whether or not toxins actually accumulate in the body. This is a serious business because if it were true, then prior to the arrival of techniques for detoxification, very many people would be getting very ill from these toxins.

Most manufacturers are well aware that this isn't the case but maintain instead that the toxins, whatever they are, do accumulate and cause the body to function below an optimum level. So the lesser claim is simply that toxins reduce the efficiency of the body.

But in any case, if they tend to accumulate, then for some people those levels must by definition be getting dangerously high. That's evidence we can look for and evaluate and the test is an easy one. We simply compare populations who take detox preparations against those who don't and measure the incidence of toxin-related illness.

But what are the toxins?

But we hit a problem, because those companies marketing detox products are very vague about what they are. If you look at the number one product listed on the detoxreviews.com, called Colonix produced by Dr Natura, you will search in vain for any explanation of what these toxins are. There is a mention of toxic waste in the colon, and detoxifying the liver, and a passing reference to heavy metals, but no mention of what those toxins actually are.

Some sites claim that the toxins include various groups of elements called the heavy metals. The term describes very loosely any metallic element, regardless of atomic weight, which can in certain concentrations be toxic.

That definition potentially includes all metallic elements, including all those required by our human metabolism such as iron, copper, zinc, sodium, potassium, calcium, and so on. But there are others which are toxic at much lower concentrations.

Heavy metals?

Cleanse Smart and Heavy Metal Cleanse from ReNew Life says it will remove heavy metal toxins from the body via the "two main detoxification pathways - the liver and the colon". On their website, they tell us that it contains a chelating agent which has been shown to remove aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel.

Clearly this product is geared towards those people who are worried that they have a build-up of heavy metals in their bodies, but what symptoms might they expect? How common, even in industrialised societies, is this heavy metal poisoning? In fact, it is very rare.

If people are suffering from heavy metal poisoning, they will be presenting with serious symptoms including severe abdominal pains and diarrhoea (lead), acute pneumonitis, myalgia and peripheral neuropathy (mercury), nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea (cadmium), and cyanosis and convulsions (arsenic).

It should be obvious that any kind of build-up of these heavy metals will quickly produce acute signs of poisoning and will require urgent medical attention. The idea that these heavy metals are accumulating dangerously in the tissues is designed to worry potential customers.

Chelation agents?

When a poison enters the body its effects are caused because it reacts chemically with other biochemicals disrupting the reaction pathways. The poison remains in the tissues combined in chemical molecules and the treatment has to remove the the poison from the body.

Chelating agents were developed during the First World War to treat soldiers who are suffered Arsenic gas attacks. The strategy was to inject a chemical into the body which would combine with the Arsenic, making an inert but soluble chemical which could dissolve in the blood and therefore be filtered out and excreted by the kidneys.

They are powerful chemicals which have a major impact on the body so unless there has been a clinically diagnosed heavy metal poisoning, the use of chelating agents is an uncontrolled experiment on our own health. EDTA, a common chelating agent agent for clinically treating lead poisoning, also leaches out vitamins C and E, and there are other metabolic effects as well.

So the clear advice is that unless there is a clinically diagnosed case of heavy metal poisoning, chelating agents should be avoided. If they are to be used, it should be done in a controlled clinical setting focussed on removing the specific heavy metal poison.

Cleansing the colon?

Our gut is remarkably efficient at keeping itself clean. Providing that we eat a reasonable amount of fibre in our diet, the gut will function perfectly well. One of the functions of the colon is to reabsorb water back into the body and this is what changes the consistency of the contents.

The suggestion that there are harmful toxins in the colon should make us question what the effects of those toxins might be. Do they pass into the blood stream and affect the rest of the body? If so, how do they get through the colon wall? Since the matter in the colon is being excreted, why is there any risk?

Of course, the colon contains digested but unusable matter which will contain many breakdown products of the digestive process, a large number of complex biochemicals, some of which will have unwanted biochemical effects if they were to enter the bloodstream.

One of the consequences of a punctured gut is precisely peritonitis but the reason we do not normally suffer from this condition is that the colon is largely waterproof. Any absorption of water is controlled by a strict metabolic mechanism. The presence of waste matter in the colon is not a cause for worry because it is exactly where it ought to be.

Questions for detox users and sellers?

Before considering handing over any money we should ask some questions and consider how reasonable are the answers.

1 What specific toxin is accumulating and what are the specific symptoms?

2 What clinical standard evidence do they have for this accumulation and what diagnostic method is used to indicate that I am suffering from this build-up?

3 What clinical treatments are normally prescribed to deal with these symptoms?

3 Why are those symptoms not overwhelmingly widespread?

4 Why are there so many healthy people who do not take detox treatments?

When we assess the claims rationally, we see an intense marketing activity based on unsubstantiated statements about unidentified toxins. A little thought shows us how irrational some of these claims are. The suggestion that we need to flush out our colons is bizarre given the nature of the colon itself. Suggestions about flushing the liver or kidneys make no biological sense, and the use of chelating agents is a risky process.

Before we undertake any process which is designed to influence our finely balanced biochemistry, we need to be very sure of the consequences and establish a clear clinical need for the intervention. Our health is too important to be the basis of an uninformed experiment.