You already have a detox system
Juice cleanses and detox teas promise to flush out toxins. A review of the research found no good trials behind them. Your liver and kidneys do this work every day.
The word detox sells a lot of juice. It is worth knowing what the research says before you buy a week of it.
In 2015 two researchers in Australia, A. V. Klein and H. Kiat, read the research on commercial detox diets. These are the juice cleanses, the special teas and the short programmes that promise to remove toxins and help you lose weight.
What they found
They found no randomised controlled trials of commercial detox diets in people. That is the kind of study that can show if something works. The few studies that did exist were small, and they had serious problems in how they were done.
Most products also do not say which toxins they remove, or how. Without that, nobody can test the claim.
No randomised trials tested commercial detox diets in people.
What about the weight loss?
Some people lose weight on a cleanse. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health explains why: you eat much less. The weight usually comes back when you eat normally again.
Some cleanses can do harm
The same health centre lists real risks:
- Juice that is not pasteurised can carry bacteria. This is a risk for children, older people and people with a weak immune system.
- Large amounts of some green juices and beet juice are high in oxalate. In some people this can cause kidney stones.
- Laxatives and colon cleanses can cause dehydration. They are a risk for people with bowel disease, kidney disease or heart problems.
- Very long fasts can upset the salts in your blood. This can give headaches and make you faint.
In the US, the authorities have also taken action against detox products that had hidden ingredients or made false claims.
What we do instead
Your liver, kidneys, gut and lungs remove waste from your body all the time. You cannot buy a better version of them in a bottle. What helps them is ordinary: drink water, eat enough fibre, sleep, and drink less alcohol.
On Ethos, detox means something else. It means removing what does you harm, at home and in your habits. The other articles in this room are about that.
