On social media, diet enthusiasts claim that a sludge of papaya
seeds can fight off parasites. A TikTok user whose account is devoted to weight
loss says that a whirl of lemon juice, pineapple, ginger, and cucumber, blended
until frothy and consumed twice daily, can help you melt off 4.5kg in a week.
Bright “elixirs” pledge to rejigger your gut, while a set of six drinks each
day (made of carrot juice, apple juice, and green vegetable juices, among
others) compose “the Skinny Cleanse”.
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Celebrities, too, have sworn by these sorts of diets, including
Beyoncé and Gwyneth Paltrow, who regularly advertises the “detoxifying”
products of her lifestyle brand, Goop.
Every year, the wellness world hawks “cleanses,” often liquid
diets that mainly consist of vegetable and fruit juices. A day or three (or
eight) of drinking all your meals, and you will purge any toxins from your
body, cleanse manufacturers say.
“There’s no major research done on most of the cleanses that are out there.”
Your skin will clear; your stomach will shrink. You will feel,
more or less, pure.
But there is scant evidence to back any of these claims.
“There’s no major research done on most of the cleanses that are out there,” Dr
Melinda Ring, an integrative medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine,
said. However, some people do say that they feel better while on a cleanse —
that they sleep better, have more energy, or think more clearly. Nutrition
experts say people who try cleanses may report positive benefits in the short
term — but not because of the specific slush they are drinking. And cleanses
come with plenty of risks.
Here is what to know.
Do you need to ‘detox’?The case for “cleansing” comes from the idea that harmful toxins
build up inside the body, and that the secret to improved health is to release
them. “People have this magical impression that what’s in the body are weapons
of mass destruction, and somehow flushing them out is going to make them
better,” said Dr Gerard Mullin, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins
Medicine who specializes in gastroenterology.
But our bodies themselves have plenty of filters, said Beth
Czerwony, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human
Nutrition. Kidneys, livers, skin and bladders all work to remove toxins and
waste. “People often forget that,” she said. “Our body’s such a beautiful
machine that it self-regulates.”
“People often forget that, … our body’s such a beautiful machine that it self-regulates.”
There also is not robust research showing that the main
ingredients found in many cleanses, like lemon and apple cider vinegar, can
speed up your metabolism or help you process waste faster, Ring said.
Many cleanses take some form of a liquid diet, which consumers
often mistakenly think will give their gastrointestinal tracts a reset,
Czerwony said, enabling their bodies to absorb nutrients more effectively when
they do go back to solid food and thus benefiting their overall health. That’s
misinformation, she said, as your body will absorb the nutrients regardless;
often, you need the fiber of solid food.
Why might a cleanse make you feel good?There is a potential placebo effect that comes with being on a
cleanse, Ring said. If you are convinced that a cleanse will make you feel
better, you may convince yourself that you really are benefiting from it.
A cleanse may also keep some people’s energy levels more
consistent, Czerwony said, because of what they are eliminating from their
diets, as opposed to what they are adding. When people opt for a cleanse, they
tend to drink more water and consume less added sugar than they normally do,
she said. If they typically eat heavy, processed foods and then swap those out
for fruit- and vegetable-based smoothies, they might reap the benefits of
cutting back on added sugars and fat. Foods loaded with refined carbs, like
white bread and pastries, can make our blood sugar spike, and then our energy
levels may crash as our glucose levels slide back down.
But while some people may feel more energetic on a cleanse,
others might be exhausted and struggle to get through the day because of how
few calories they are consuming, Czerwony said. Some people experience
headaches and become irritable; they can also develop diarrhea or constipation.
If you are convinced that a cleanse will make you feel better, you may convince yourself that you really are benefiting from it.
There is no science-backed, individual component of a cleanse
that makes you healthier, Czerwony said. A 2014 review of past studies on
detoxes found that the research was largely flawed; a separate 2017 review
found that juicing and detoxification diets led to weight loss over short
periods of time because of how few calories the participants consumed while on
them, but they tended to experience weight gain once they resumed eating
normally.
If you are going to try a cleanse, you should choose one that
lasts no longer than three days, Czerwony said. The limited time frame is
important so you avoid nutrient deficiencies and imbalances in your electrolyte
levels. It is also critical to make sure you are not consuming dangerous levels
of vegetables and fruits, which may seem counterintuitive.
A few case reports have found that people on juice cleanses can
develop kidney issues, because certain vegetables like spinach are high in
oxalate, and high oxalate levels can cause kidney stones, Mullin said.
“They don’t just do one smoothie — they live on it,” he said.
“Some people overdo it.”
And any supposed benefits from a temporary juice cleanse will
not counteract the toll of an unhealthy diet, Ring said. To incorporate
healthier habits for the long term, eliminate processed, packaged foods as much
as possible, and make sure you are getting the recommended five servings of
fruits and vegetables per day, Czerwony said.
Opt for complex starches like whole grains instead of processed
flour, and stick to foods that are high in fiber, like nuts, beans, and apples,
which can help regulate your GI tract. A moderate level of exercise and good
sleep can also give you more energy throughout the day. But you do not need to
turn to a detox to feel better. As Mullin said, “the body knows how to take
care of itself.”
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