What are ‘detox’ products? Detox, detoxification or detoxication is a treatment given to people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol in order to stop them from being addicted. And ‘a detox’ is a treatment that is intended to remove poisonous or harmful substances from the body. So if something detoxes your body, it removes poisonous or harmful substances from your body1.
That is, to detoxify there must be poisoning, which is the pathological state produced by a substance or product that has harmful effects on the body. There may be poisoning by alcohol, addictive drugs (for example, cocaine or heroin), food in poor condition or containing toxic substances, poisons, medicines, etc. But the food and drinks which we usually drink, in normal amounts, have no harmful effects on the body, and are not toxic.
However, large excesses of a drink, such as water taken in a very large amount, can cause harmful effects. This is called water intoxication. But drinking and eating in normal amounts is not toxic. Neither is eating too much. This usually makes you fat, but it is not toxic, unless you take huge amounts in a very short time.
So detox products are not sold to treat poisonings, and are not for detoxifying. So what are they for? This may be known by those who sell and consume them. They accept and believe that the food and drinks habitually taken are harmful, and that something must be done to eliminate this toxicity from the body. What can be done to eliminate this invented toxicity? One can consume detox products. And what are these products? They can be, for example, drinks with an unattractive appearance, often brownish green, with an unpleasant taste. The composition of some detox products is described as “vegetal”, but they may contain diuretics and laxatives. There are also detox products for the skin. In this case, sellers and consumers must accept and believe that there are harmful substances in the skin that can be eliminated with detox products. But why do they say that there are toxic substances in the skin? To sell their products, not because there really is something toxic in the skin. If there were, any reaction such as redness or inflammation, and symptoms such as pain or itching would be noticeable. In this case, if there is a disorder in the skin, it is necessary to investigate whether it has been produced by something external or not, when it appeared, the duration of the symptoms and signs, etc., in short, to diagnose what it is and see what treatment is appropriate. If there is no injury or alteration in the skin, nobody should do anything to “detoxify” it, because there is nothing toxic.
The food and drink which we habitually consume are not harmful. It is not necessary to buy a green juice, with a disgusting taste, to eliminate anything. But these detox treatments are for several days. Many people use them with the intention of losing weight. And, of course, they do lose weight! Two, three, four, five days of taking only these disgusting products, going to the toilet several times a day, make anyone lose weight. There are also ‘detox diets’ advertised for losing weight, which consist, for example, of drinking only lemon juice for two weeks. This is not a detox product for sale in dietary establishments, but it is also outrageous. And many dangerous ‘diets’ like this one are advertised everywhere. But be careful: not eating and drinking normally, and the forced elimination of fluids can cause a great imbalance in body fluids and this is very dangerous for health.
And concerning the skin, who says that there is something wrong with the skin that needs to be eliminated? What are those bad things? First you have to know this to prepare a product that treats it. There is nothing proven in all these fallacies about those bad invented things that we have in the body or in the skin, whose antidote is detox products, which unfortunately are specially designed for people who can believe in them.
Moreover, some of these detox products are advertised as curing diseases. Some contain medicines without authorization for that, and without the consumer knowing. For example, the drug regulatory agency in the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has detected fluoxetine2, a medicine for the treatment of depression and other mental disorders, in a detox drink. The FDA also prohibited the marketing of certain herbs to ‘cleanse the colon’ which the seller said served to cure colon cancer and other serious diseases3. The messages advertising these products are varied and all false. While detox products are on the market, there will be someone who buys and consumes them. But health authorities should eliminate them from the market, because they do not serve for what they advertise and because they can be dangerous for health.
Dr. Ana M. Cerro. PhD and Immunologist.
References
- Collins dictionary. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/detox
- Public Notification: Toxin Discharged Tea Contains Hidden Drug Ingredient https://www.fda.gov/drugs/medication-health-fraud/public-notification-toxin-discharged-tea-contains-hidden-drug-ingredient
- Marketers of 7 Day Miracle Cleanse Program Banned From Infomercials https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2008/02/marketers-7-day-miracle-cleanse-program-banned-infomercials