Should You Detox Your Colon?
Is your colon all gummed up with old food that you can't seem to get rid of? Well, if you think it is—probably because some advertisement told you so—there are plenty of colon detox products on the market. In the June print issue (and online), Consumer Reports looks at the possible health benefits of colon detoxing and determines that it's not necessary, mainly because waste doesn't build up in the intestine in a way that would require some sort of flushing in the first place.
It can also be dangerous if you do it too much:
When they are administered too often, laxatives and enemas might prevent normal bowel movements or lead to a potentially deadly depletion of vital electrolytes.
Just eat more fiber. That seems to be the solution to most poop-related health issues.
"Do you really need to 'detox' your colon?" [Consumer Reports]
(Photo: Elsie esq.)
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Comments:
What about those scores of pictures people post online of their several pound, several foot long turd snakes they crapped out after taking the detox stuff saying, "I lost 5 pounds!"
Ah yes, the colon detox--full of crap because you AREN'T!
Just as effective as those kinoki footpads. And with new potential health risks, woohoo!
People don't eat enough fiber these days. This is just snake oil. Take these pills and you'll be thinner, healthier, cure all that ails you.
No.
Our bodies are built to detox themselves. By pooping.
If you have blockage, then yes, use an enema. If you think that there are toxins in your system that water will flush out, because your body can't do that already, with gravity, then no.
Also if you don't have a liver, or kidneys. Go for it.
@Mr_D: "Or, for those of you who believe in an Intelligent Designer, why would He let His creations get so full of crap?"
I see what you did there.
Holy Crap Batman!
@Conrad: But what about the buildup lining my colon like spackle? They said that in the ad. Why would they lie about that?
And of course, on top of the obvious, there is the silliness of the concept of a "toxin". NEWS FLASH: There is no such thing. Substances have toxic dosages, but in a small enough dose, the most harmful substance can be rendered harmless, or even beneficial. How do all these "toxin flushing" miracle cures know what a toxin is, and to what level it should be "flushed" to?
Covered. And all you have to do is eat breakfast.
It would take over 2.5 million bowls of your oat bran high-fiber cereal to get the fiber content of one bowl of my cereal.
@Span_Wolf: Those "detox pills" are just tweaks on good ol' bentonite. If you swallow it, the bentonite absorbs liquid and winds up making a nice little mold of your large intestine that you just prairie-dog out of you.
Sure, the pills caused all this waste to come out... but, nevermind that the pills caused the waste to be in there in the first place.
@sirwired: The two things we need most in order to survive are "toxins." Too much oxygen or too much water and you will be dead.
@sirwired:
What do you mean there's no toxins?! What about DHMO??? I mean, it can cause burns, it can poison, heck, it's even in acid rain!
Get that sh*t out of my system now, colon blow! AAAHHHHHH...
@Mr_D: I agree that colon cleansing is probably useless junk science. But it's easy to defeat this argument by pointing out that humans started eating all kinds of chemicals and processed foods in the 20th century that neither evolution nor the Intelligent Designer could have predicted.
This is why I just order the biggest burger I can at claim jumpers once a month. With the size of the shits that produces, there's no room for toxins.
I love blue berries. I will eat an entire box all by myself. I guarantee what happens to me the next day is a "colon detox".
@Applekid: OK that is too funny! Thank you for explaining that in both a humorous and easy to understand manner. Seriously. Somebody had to.
@AbsurdHero: "nor the Intelligent Designer could have predicted."
Well, then I argue your designer is not all that intelligent!!!
;)
@Applekid: Double ewwww, I just looked up bentonite on Wikipedia:
"The self-stickiness of bentonite allows high-pressure ramming or pressing of the clay in molds to produce hard, refractory shapes, such as model rocket nozzles. Indeed, to test whether a particular brand of cat litter is bentonite, simply ram a sample with a hammer into a sturdy tube with a close-fitting rod; bentonite will form a very hard, consolidated plug that is not easily crumbled. Bentonite also has the interesting property of adsorbing relatively large amounts of protein molecules from aqueous solutions..."
People hose buckets of this CLAY CEMENT up their asses or drink large quantities of it to produce the famed detox turd snakes? Seems that if anything would cause a dangerous blockage, it would be the treatment. Gross and dangerous.
Benefiber FTW!
i'm happy to go to school and to do science
it's usually insane how there is a whole market aiming just at stupid people
Junk science that can be dangerous if you do it too often. When I get backed up and I can't poop for a few days, I use an enema. Although those things can cause problems if you use them too much.
No one has "toxins" in their colon. I HATE when people try to tell me that.
A serving of Kavli Golden Rye crackers or your choice of mini-wheats contain about 25% daily recommended fiber.
I heard a radio ad for something that says cleaning your colon will help you loose weight.
@MaytagRepairman: Haha, for me it's cherries.
I made the mistake of downing a bag of cherries during a long drive. My husband warned me not to, but as usual I ignored him. I learned my lesson.
You mean ghoul Clee isn't being forthright?
My world has just been torn asunder!
did anyone hear that cavemen got more fiber than we did?
being lactose intolerant has it's upsides. I just drink a nice tall glass of 2% and clean out the pipes.
Why are alternative "medicine" quacks so obsessed with crap?
Yet another datapoint in the case to regulate the alternative "medicine" industry out of existence.
I bought a pack of Colon Blow like 10 years ago but never used it because the descriptions of what you had to do and how long it took scared the shit into me
@johnva: Because they're anal-retentive. The enema thing is a pretty old form of quackery. Crazy ol' Dr. Kellogg, for example, was a huge fan of the enema:
Kellogg made sure that the bowel of each and every patient was plied with water, from above and below. His favorite device was an enema machine ("just like one I saw in Germany") that could run fifteen gallons of water through an unfortunate bowel in a matter of seconds. Every water enema was followed by a pint of yogurt -- half was eaten, the other half was administered by enema "thus planting the protective germs where they are most needed and may render most effective service." The yogurt served to replace "the intestinal flora" of the bowel, creating what Kellogg claimed was a squeaky clean intestine.
@waza0: I suspect stupid people with too much money is the only thing keeping the world economy from sucking us all back to the stone age.
Don't clean out your colon. It's got ELECTROLYTES!
That said, as people age and depending on their diet, their large intestines can become twisted and sag, causing waste to get trapped in crevices. It's not a terrible idea to get a colonic every now and then.
Just eat a bowl of Cheerios. Works every time.
@sonneillon: I think it's the other way around--Big Spackle doesn't want you to know you can make your own.
But that's how Richard Gere gets those gerbil corpses out!
Humans, in their current form, have existed for millenia. If we got "backed up" and it was a problem, evolution would have taken care of that for us.
Or, for those of you who believe in an Intelligent Designer, why would He let His creations get so full of crap?