Detox Demystified

[Guest guest]

(note their *source* at the end of the article. Dr. Barrett was also

adamant that mercury in fillings was perfectly safe and that MCS is a

psychological disorder. so much for their source!)

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-000071258sep03.story?coll=la%2Dhea

dlines%2Dhealth

Detox Demystified

Supporters say the practice rids the body of 'toxins.' But many scientists

counter there's scant evidence it does anything the body can't do on its

own.

By SHARI ROAN

TIMES HEALTH WRITER

September 3 2001

In a second-floor classroom at the American University for Complementary

Medicine in West Los Angeles, 15 adults are feasting on a vegetarian potluck

dinner of plantains, tomatoes, lentils, avocados and dairy-free brownies.

They've spent the last week on a liquids-only fast, part of a 21-day

" detoxification " program.

They are jubilant that their ordeal is over.

They feel cleaned out. They feel pure.

Detoxification has become an essential feature of the holistic health

movement. It is based on the controversial premise that people's bodies

accumulate toxins that result in poor health and disease. According to

proponents, humans are bombarded with substances that can poison them,

ranging from food additives and other dietary culprits to hormone

replacement therapy, chlorinated water, microwave radiation, even anger and

other negative emotions.

The concept has struck a chord with a public besieged with warnings about

the dangers of " mad " cows, Alar-laced apples, smog alerts and sugar

substitutes.

" This is a movement that has no choice but to pick up steam because we live

in a toxic environment, " says Dr. De, the instructor for the

program held at the West L.A. school. " The water doesn't taste right. The

air doesn't look right. It's intuitive. "

That message has spawned a mini-industry of books, seminars, health and

beauty products, and other treatments that are based on the idea of

enhancing health by cleansing, or detoxifying, one's body. " It's sort of

like a spring cleaning, " says Todd Runestad, managing editor of Nutrition

Science News, a trade publication in Boulder, Colo.

Detox therapies run the gamut from sweat lodges and herbal supplements to

invasive medical treatments, such as chelation, in which a chemical is

infused into the blood to purify it. Another technique is colonic

irrigation, a delicate procedure during which a rubber tube is passed

through the rectum and warm water is pumped in to flush the large intestine.

Detox diets, typically featuring juice fasts and a reliance on fruits and

vegetables, are the most popular of the various methods.

Dr. Elson Hass, a Marin County physician who has written several books

touting detoxification, explains the concept this way. Toxins, he says, " get

into the fat tissue and the liver and connective tissue and cause the body

to become less elastic or inflamed or congested or deficient of nutrients.

Detoxification is about giving your body a rest from something, whether it

is sugar or nicotine, alcohol, caffeine or chemicals in foods or drugs. "

It's hard to argue with the idea that the environment is not as healthy for

humans as it used to be. And the recommendation to eat a diet rich in fresh

vegetables and fruit is widely accepted by medical experts. Though these two

ideas provide a certain logical appeal to the detoxification movement, other

aspects are controversial. The claim by detoxification proponents that our

bodies stockpile a range of toxins--and that treatments and products can

purify the body--is strongly disputed by many medical experts. They contend

there is no scientific basis for the claims made by some doctors and other

health practitioners who promote detox therapies.

One detox program marketed on the Internet makes the claim that people can

suffer from " intestinal toxemia, " a condition in which " food can literally

rot inside the digestive tract and produce toxic byproducts. " Another

Internet site, http://www.fasting.com, advocates juice fasting for " removing

the 5 to 10 pounds of toxic chemicals now locked into the average adult's

cell, tissue and organ storage areas. "

Though exposure to dangerous chemicals is associated with several illnesses,

there is no evidence that widespread poisoning is causing things such as

headaches and allergies, says Dr. Hirt, director of the Center for

Integrative Medicine at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center. " A lot of

people lack sleep, eat too much sugar and have too much stress. Toxins are

not their problem. Their lifestyle is their problem. "

Hirt believes that some people are turning to detox programs because they

are not getting enough advice about dietary and lifestyle changes from their

doctors or government health officials.

Believing that a person can rid themselves of poisons through detoxifying,

he says, " is magical thinking. Toxins in the environment may be causing you

trouble, but you won't necessarily be helped by these therapies that are

loosely based on science. "

Rich Cleland, a senior attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, says the

word " detoxify " rings alarm bells with government investigators. The FTC

only challenges detoxification claims if the manufacturer also says the

product treats or cures disease. But many detox product claims skirt the

law, Cleland says.

" If [consumers] interpret detoxification to mean that this treatment is

going to remove all the harmful substances from their body, then a company

would have to substantiate that, " he says. " If they couldn't, then the claim

could be considered deceptive. "

On Aug. 21, the FTC announced that Liverite Products Inc., of Tustin, will

pay $60,000 to settle FTC charges that the company made unsubstantiated

claims. Liverite claimed the supplement, which contains extract of beef

liver, detoxified the liver and helped treat alcohol-induced liver disease,

hepatitis and cirrhosis.

Other detoxification therapies, though not unlawful, are not based on

science, critics say.

Chelation, for example, is an accepted medical practice for removing heavy

metals from the blood in clear cases of poisoning. However, chelation has

also become popular among some medical doctors who claim it helps remove

from the blood substances, such as calcium, that cause heart damage.

The American Heart Assn., for one, has said there is no evidence for such

claims. In 1998, the FTC fined a Laguna Hills company for making claims that

chelation therapy is effective for treating heart disease.

Another popular detox practice, colonic irrigation, is said to remove toxins

that reside in the colon. But many doctors say there is no evidence that the

intestines build up waste and that the colon naturally sheds its lining

about every seven days.

Colonic irrigation and other colon hydrotherapy treatments date back to the

1930s when doctors believed that fumes generated in the colon were harmful

to health, says Dr. Clearfield, a professor of medicine at Hahnemann

University Hospital in Philadelphia. But that concept was long ago

disproved.

" We do colonoscopy on patients every day and clean them out remarkably

well, " Clearfield says. " I've never yet had a patient come up to me

afterward and say, 'I've never felt better! " '

Only one state, Florida, licenses the people who perform colonic irrigation,

and the procedure has been linked to injuries, infections, even deaths, says

Barrett, a retired psychiatrist who is vice president of the

National Council Against Health Fraud, an organization that is critical of

many alternative medical practices.

The idea that one's health can benefit by cleansing the inner body has roots

in ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Indian medicine and was first practiced in

this country by Native Americans who did ritual sweating ceremonies with the

change of seasons.

Moreover, some herbs common in Chinese medicine are thought to benefit the

liver, which is the body's primary filter of harmful substances. Milk

thistle, an herb, has been targeted as a legitimate area of research on

liver health.

Despite ancient traditions, the major flaw in the detoxification theory is

that no one can identify specific toxins that are stored in the body,

causing illness, critics say.

Haas, the Marin County doctor who was an early proponent of detoxification

in the 1970s, acknowledges that there is little evidence for many detox

claims. " I wish I could give you the science behind it, but there is very

little, " he said. " It hasn't been studied. "

Other detox practitioners say that studies linking certain foods to

allergies, asthma, ear infections and migraines demonstrate that food can

cause toxicity. They also contend that fat biopsies, hair analyses and

caffeine clearance tests (tests to measure how rapidly the liver removes

caffeine from the blood) can prove toxicity.

" We don't use these tests very much anymore because they are more expensive

than just getting the treatment, " says Conroy, of Bastyr University, a

naturopathic medical school in Bothell, Wash. Even without diagnostic tests,

he says, 90% of all his clients need detoxification. He says the symptoms of

toxicity include bad breath, fatigue, sensitivity to chemicals, allergies,

headaches and itching.

" People feel horrible as things are coming out " during the detox, says

Conroy. " But after two or three weeks they feel wonderful. They have high

energy. Their gastrointestinal and arthritic symptoms are resolved and they

have mental clarity. "

Some of the people who attended De's recent seminar acknowledged that

detox diets can be difficult to endure but said that breaking away from a

diet of fast-food hamburgers and diet sodas eventually feels terrific.

Trust, 36, and her husband, , 37, decided to detoxify as

a pathway to healthier eating. Despite the lack of scientific proof, the

idea simply appealed to them.

" We've wanted to change our eating habits for a long time, but we needed a

jump-start, " says , who says she lost 18 pounds on a 21-day detox

program. " This program is really just saying 'you are what you eat.' When

you start thinking in those terms, you really want to put good things in

your body. "

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How the Body Cleanses Itself

The human body helps rid itself of potentially harmful substances in a

number of ways:

* Liver--This organ is the principal detoxifier. Blood that passes through

the intestines can reach the heart and lungs only after passing through the

liver. One of the liver's two main functions is to filter toxins for

excretion.

* Lungs--In all breathing passages, mucus traps impurities while hairlike

projections called cilia carry the mucus from the lungs and toward the

throat. Impurities are then coughed out or swallowed.

* Kidneys--Another filtering organ that cleanses the blood of waste

products. The kidneys contain millions of tiny filtering units called

nephrons that act to separate nutrients from waste and send waste into the

urine.

* Skin--Sweat glands carry waste products, primarily urea and ammonia, from

the body to be excreted in the form of perspiration.

* Intestines--The small intestine absorbs nutrients. The remnants enter the

large intestine, which transports waste to the rectum for elimination. The

large intestine also absorbs needed water and minerals.

*

Sources: Dr. Barrett; s Hopkins Family Health Book; Webster's

New World Medical Dictionary.