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sarahsweets · May 21, 2020, 05:42 AM

I am not trying to make anyone who believes in dietary/heavy metal detoxes feel bad or anything like that I just wanted to share some info I had about this fad. I am sharing it because just like in politics there is misinformation, data skewing and also there is a profit motive from the homepathic industry just like any other industry.

You can’t detox your body. It’s a myth. So how do you get healthy? | Life and style | The Guardian

Quote:

If toxins did build up in a way your body couldn’t excrete, he says, you’d likely be dead or in need of serious medical intervention. “The healthy body has kidneys, a liver, skin, even lungs that are detoxifying as we speak,” he says. “There is no known way – certainly not through detox treatments – to make something that works perfectly well in a healthy body work better.”

With celebrity advocates from Gwyneth Paltrow to Oprah Winfrey, detoxing has become big business. Rich Peppiatt thinks he’s found the solution to our detoxing obsession … and it tastes a bit like liquified animal.
Much of the sales patter revolves around “toxins”: poisonous substances that you ingest or inhale. But it’s not clear exactly what these toxins are. If they were named they could be measured before and after treatment to test effectiveness. Yet, much like floaters in your eye, try to focus on these toxins and they scamper from view. In 2009, a network of scientists assembled by the UK charity Sense about Science contacted the manufacturers of 15 products sold in pharmacies and supermarkets that claimed to detoxify. The products ranged from dietary supplements to smoothies and shampoos. When the scientists asked for evidence behind the claims, not one of the manufacturers could define what they meant by detoxification, let alone name the toxins.

Yet, inexplicably, the shelves of health food stores are still packed with products bearing the word “detox” – it’s the marketing equivalent of drawing go-faster stripes on your car. You can buy detoxifying tablets, tinctures, tea bags, face masks, bath salts, hair brushes, shampoos, body gels and even hair straighteners. Yoga, luxury retreats, and massages will also all erroneously promise to detoxify. You can go on a seven-day detox diet and you’ll probably lose weight, but that’s nothing to do with toxins, it’s because you would have starved yourself for a week.

Quote:

Many of our consumer decisions, he adds, are made in ignorance and supposition, which is rarely challenged or informed. “People assume that the world is carefully regulated and that there are benign institutions guarding them from making any kind of errors. A lot of marketing drip-feeds that idea, surreptitiously. So if people see somebody with apparently the right credentials, they think they’re listening to a respectable medic and trust their advice.”

“Ask trading standards what they’re doing about it. Anyone who says, ‘I have a detox treatment’ is profiting from a false claim and is by definition a crook. And it shouldn’t be left to scientists and charities to go after crooks.”

To be clear, before information was lightening fast and before people realized that the internet could be manipulated into supporting dangerous or disproven theories/treatments/diets, I fell prey to some of the milder claims. The detox diet that is based on removing something from the body that cant possibly be removed, the 3 day diet for weight loss. I was scared of high colonics yet I wondered if it would help. I have read a lot about theories and detoxes that when examined are dangerous or unproven. In fact there is a dangerous practice of chelation therapy being used for autism.

Quote:

Chelation therapy supposedly removes mercury from the body, which chelation supporters say cures autism — but there's no evidence of a link between mercury exposure and autism. In addition, chelation therapy can be associated with serious side effects, including potentially deadly kidney damage.Nov 23, 2016

Homeopathic/naturalpath types of theories are widespread. This not to say I am not a disbeliever in people's experiences or that anything natural or supplements or whatever is all harmful- I take tons of vitamins to make up for what I do not absorb due to gastric bypass.
I simply believe that evidence isnt always there to support the claims. There is a high level of distrust recently of the medical industry. Many people will say there is only a profit motive and conspiracy wise- that the medical community has some nefarious goal. There is a difference between being distrustful of standard medicine and completely ignoring peer reviewed scholarly articles and studies. "Big Pharma" is a common catch all way of dismissing medical advice or literature. Of course "Big Pharma" is out for profit-take a look at the oxycontin lawsuits- and the patent process and lack of profit caps or deregulation makes everything seem jaded. But that doesnt mean medicine or standard medical practice is all wrong.
It ultimately comes down to what works for the person. If someone wants to try dangerous treatments I cant stop them. I can share my opinion but I do not believe in banning things outright. Just consider all the evidence when you look for treatments for medical or mental illnesses.
Some people will say its their body and they are not harming anyone but when that individual treatment is shared on the internet and influences people to either rebuke standard science or discount anything coming from your basic doctor- then I get concerned. I do not make it my business to tell everyone all the time how I feel about this but when it comes to new or worsening medical conditions i feel I should share my opinion about it out of common concern. What I ultimately mean is check with your medical doctor about the safety of things like heavy metal detox, detox diets, elimination diets, etc.