Detoxification: types, general principles, results
In our country, the idea that the body of every person needs detox is actively promoted. For this, people are offered various procedures, food products, and a wide variety of diets are drawn up. However, most doctors claim that there is no need to cleanse the body, and all the proposals of detox-adepts are nothing more than a marketing ploy.
In 2009, in early January, an information "bomb" was launched in Britain. Detox, which was then gaining traction in Europe, was called a myth. A similar statement was made by young scientists from the group The Voice of Young Science (VoYS). It is a branch of the British non-profit organization Sense About Science. She is engaged in forging links between science and society.
Scientists, who were collected by the charitable organization "Common Sense in Science", contacted the manufacturers of 15 products that are designed to cleanse the body of toxins. This includes not only dietary supplements, but also smoothies and shampoos. Manufacturers were asked about the cleaning properties of their products. However, not a single intelligible answer was received. Moreover, they could not even name which toxins the human body needs to cleanse from.
Content:
- 3 whales of detoxification
- Medical Detox
- Detox diets
- Detox procedures
- Tablets
- How our body cleanses itself
- Can you help your body cleanse?
3 whales of detoxification
There are 3 myths about detox:
- A person is constantly exposed to a huge amount of toxins.
- The body is not able to get rid of these toxins on its own. They accumulate in it and provoke the development of a wide variety of diseases.
- To cope with toxins, you need to eat properly, take care of yourself, and heal.
All these myths seem to confirm each other, depend on each other and make a person think that detox is vital for him.
Our body gradually accumulates toxins, from which it needs to be regularly cleansed
The whole essence of detox boils down to toxins (toxic substances) that a person receives every day with food or inhales with air. However, no one is able to accurately describe these poisons. There is no information about their concentration, and it is also unclear how to measure their content in the body before and after cleansing.
Ontario Hospital Cancer Center and pharmacist Scott Gawura is convinced that the word detox is misleading. This term is nothing more than a publicity stunt. “You can really cleanse your body only in a hospital. Such a detox is carried out in a hospital setting, when a person has suffered from an overdose of alcoholic beverages or drugs. Provided that the patient is in danger of life.
Detoxification cannot be done at home. Only doctors can rid the human body of harmful substances - from toxins."
Illness is the result of accumulated toxins
Detox propagandists claim that all diseases occur in a person due to the accumulation of toxins in his body. Here they include such symptoms of malaise as: headaches, insomnia, fatigue. It is sometimes said that if you do not detox, you can get cancer.
However, none of the advertisements for a particular detox system say exactly which toxins are causing the symptoms of poisoning and what kind of disease they might develop. Therefore, it is quite obvious that all such strategies are nothing more than unscientific marketing gimmicks.
Science always strives to understand how exactly a particular substance affects the body, what symptoms it can cause. The theory of detox boils down to the fact that there are "a lot" of toxins and they are all "very harmful."
From an early age, a person is exposed to chemicals on his body. However, it cannot be argued that all of them are harmful to health. The only thing that matters is how much they enter the body. By the way, even water in significant quantities can harm humans.
Detoxists refer to the liver and kidneys as filters that need periodic cleaning. There are even comparisons of organs to conditioner filters or regular dish sponges. According to Gavura, if a person is healthy, then the liver will clean itself perfectly. Toxins do not accumulate in it. The kidneys remove all harmful elements along with the urine. Otherwise, they would remain in the bloodstream. Therefore, every “specialist” who insists on the need for detox simply confirms once again that he has no idea about metabolic processes and human physiology.
The liver cleans itself all the time, so it cannot store toxins. They transform them into substances that are utilized by bile and kidneys.
Detox programs eliminate all toxins
To date, there is no evidence that capsules, pills and other dietary supplements that are designed to detox the body can benefit it at all. There is no information about the fact that coffee enemas cleanse and heal the human body, help eliminate intoxication and improve liver function.
Detox programs offer many systems to cleanse the body. One of the most popular programs is "liver acceleration". Milk thistle is used as the main "element". Gavura points out that milk thistle has been used many times as a treatment for alcohol addiction, as well as in a complex treatment regimen for hepatitis C and B. However, no convincing evidence has been found that this drug actually works.
The next common method of detoxifying the body is taking laxatives, for example, based on rhubarb, cascara sagrada, magnesium hydroxide, senna herb.
According to Gavour, frequent use of Senna and Cascara will lead to dehydration and upset the balance of electrolytes. These are very powerful natural laxatives. They can be taken for a very short time, for example, to relieve constipation, or before medical procedures. If a person uses these herbs often, then he may experience something like an addiction. As soon as he refuses to take these herbal remedies, he will be constipated. In turn, adherents of detox programs will argue that the body is simply contaminated again and needs cleansing.
Medical Detox
There are many detox ideas on the web that are aimed at cleansing the body. Many women's sites claim that by the age of 30, a huge amount of toxins accumulates in every woman's body. This leads to headaches, increased fatigue, and allergization of the body. It is its pollution that they explain chronic diseases and disruption of food digestion. To deal with problems at once, you need to regularly cleanse the intestines, kidneys and liver. This is the only way to stay healthy, according to detox advocates.
Doctors point out that the best detox a person can organize for himself is to trust his own body. He cleans himself on his own. The liver is primarily responsible for the cleansing process. She, along with the kidneys, is needed by the body to remove harmful products from it. These organs neutralize toxins that enter the bloodstream from the intestines.
According to the hepatologist of the Clinical Center of the First Moscow State Medical University named after I. I. IM Sechenov, Igor Tikhonov, that the liver is the best organ for cleansing the body as a whole. In just a few days, she will independently cope with the toxins that circulate in the blood after a single intake of alcoholic beverages. If the poisoning was serious, the liver will recover in six months.
The body itself will not remove toxins only if the intoxication was very strong. This happens against the background of severe poisoning with alcohol, drugs, food, or due to a serious illness. In this case, a detox is required. The patient is prescribed infusion therapy, which is designed to remove harmful substances in the urine. The patient will need to take diuretics. In this case, the patient is given droppers, and the whole procedure is carried out in a hospital setting.
Detox diets
Despite all the arguments, most people believe that they need to cleanse their bodies on their own. At first glance, it seems that this is very easy to do if you follow a certain diet. You can find a lot of their options on the Internet.
According to Dr. Bashankayev, in order to remove it from the body as soon as possible and at the same time not harm your health, you need to adhere to a diet that consists of healthy food products of excellent quality. In this case, you will need to limit the calorie content of dishes, as well as fats and carbohydrates in the menu. There is no need to give up fatty and carbohydrate foods completely, you just need to cut back on their content in dishes. It is very important that a person has regular bowel movements. To do this, a sufficient amount of fiber must be present in the diet.
The liver cannot be cleansed with a detox diet. If a person does not suffer from any serious pathology, then toxins in it simply will not accumulate. She herself will neutralize and get rid of them. It is quite another matter when the liver does not cope with its functions. Igor Tikhonov points out that in such a situation we are talking about liver failure, or about cirrhosis. These are serious disorders that a doctor must deal with. You cannot be guided by some unverified information from the media or the Network.
Moreover, even patients with cirrhosis and other serious pathologies do not clean the liver. The patient is diagnosed and efforts are directed to neutralize the underlying disease. Jaundice and symptoms of body intoxication are complications of any pathology, and not a sign that toxins have accumulated in the liver by themselves.
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Detox procedures
Another popular tip from the Internet is to undergo cleansing procedures that will remove toxins from the body. They can be aimed at cleansing the intestines, liver, gallbladder. To cleanse the liver and gallbladder, it is recommended to undergo a tubage, while the person will have to take choleretic drugs, for example, vegetable oil. Then he needs to lie down with a heating pad on his right side. This procedure is designed to enhance the outflow of bile, thereby clearing the biliary tract.
However, doing the tubing on your own, without a preliminary examination, can be dangerous to your health. It cannot be ruled out that the patient has stones in the gallbladder or bile ducts. When the outflow of bile increases, they will start moving and get stuck in narrow places. As a result, the person will be hospitalized urgently and will need surgery. Therefore, Dr. Tikhonov insists that it is best not to touch these organs at all.
Another cleaning option is colon hydrotherapy. This will flush the intestines with plenty of water.
According to the doctor Badma Bashankaev, few people understand that all these actions are aggressive for the intestines. He can react to such an intervention in the most unpredictable way. Various chronic diseases may worsen, dysbiosis may occur due to the washing out of beneficial microflora, etc.
Enema should be given for a specific purpose. This is a therapeutic procedure that is aimed at getting rid of acute constipation, or at preparing the patient for certain procedures (for childbirth, for organ examination, etc.). When a doctor prescribes an enema, a person needs it. However, it cannot be done systematically, let alone cleansed the body with it.
Tablets
Detox advocates also suggest using pills. There are a lot of them on sale. This includes all kinds of dietary supplements that are sold everywhere. Many of them have the word detox on the packaging. Such supplements may contain vitamins, mixtures of herbs, the uncaria tomentosa plant, etc. However, each of them, according to the manufacturers, cleanses the body.
There are even more dangerous methods of detoxing the body. So, in the composition of some tablets for "bowel cleansing" there are polymeric substances. They kind of transform feces into something that resembles plastic. When this substance leaves the body, a person will see all this "horror" and make sure that his intestines have really been cleansed.
Related articles:
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There are plasters that are glued to the feet. They turn brown in the morning. According to the manufacturers, the change in the color of the patch is due to the fact that toxins have adhered to it. In fact, such devices simply have a special impregnation that stains after interacting with sweat.
How our body cleanses itself
There is no such thing as a detox in mainstream medicine. All our organs do an excellent job of cleansing on their own, they do not need outside help. However, most often a person simply does not notice this. However, as soon as he gets poisoned with food, or wakes up in the morning in a state of a hangover, this work becomes obvious. All systems are activated, removing all unnecessary from the body. After all, it is these toxins that make a person feel very bad.
For example, the liver has special enzymes that transform harmful substances into an intermediate form, and then completely introduces them from the body. The kidneys deal with toxins by producing urine.
When a person is healthy, all these processes take place automatically, so he does not notice them. In this regard, there is no need to take any additives: no teas, no special water, no certain foods. Moreover, there is no research that these supplements do not inhibit the body's self-cleaning process at all. Sometimes detox can even hurt.
"Bringing" Slags "to clean water" - the scientific and educational forum was held on June 10 in Moscow:
Alexey Vodovozov - military doctor, member of the Association of Medical Journalists, author of the book "The patient is reasonable …"
Can you help your body cleanse?
If a person's condition has worsened because of the libations that happened the day before, or after overeating during the holidays, then you can use simple recommendations that will help the body cleanse itself. You need to sleep well, eat right, stop drinking and play sports. The only drawback of such recommendations is that they seem banal to a person, which means that they cannot be sold for a lot of money.
Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist
Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".
