Wisdom Wednesday: Detox Drinks

Some people claim that detox drinks help remove toxins from a person's body and promote weight loss. Typically, a person will include detox drinks as part of a detox diet. However, there is very little evidence that these types of drinks and diet have any detoxification effects. The use of the word detox is not always appropriate. Detox drinks may boost health, aid in weight loss, and support the body's natural detoxification processes, but this is different from medical detoxification.

An article in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics notes that some studies show that commercially available detox diets may improve the way a person's liver removes toxins from their body. However, the article also highlights that these studies had flawed methodologies and small sample sizes. A study in the journal Current Gastroenterology Reports found that a detox diet may help a person lose weight, but only because the diet is low in calories. Further, the authors note that diets that help a person lose weight by significantly reducing the number of calories they consume are unsustainable. Typically, people who undertake such calorie-restrictive diets put the weight back in the medium-to-long term.

The National Center for Integrative and Natural Health (NCINH) point out that as well as causing problems with a person's weight in the mid-to-long term, a person on a detox diet may not be getting the nutrition they require to keep their body healthy. Although they do not detox in the medical sense, detox drinks can be healthful.

Typically, people use a food processor to turn raw ingredients into a smoothie. As well as being a convenient way to consume fruits and vegetables, using fresh ingredients preserves the fiber in fruits and vegetables, which the juice alone lacks.

Detoxification

Toxicity is a ubiquitous health issue. I frequently have new patients fill out a symptom survey. It groups symptoms by organ systems. Over 95% of patients will show liver toxicity as their number one source of symptoms. The other 5% generally show a tie between liver and some other organ.

Many nutritionists start their patients with a detox program. However, I don’t believe detox is the place to start. In the QA (Quintessential Applications) protocol, liver detoxification is step 19 of 32. Inflammation is where treatment must begin, followed by immune system, general metabolism and endocrine function. Then, and only then can liver detoxification truly be effective. Digestion is a wild card and may have to be addressed before or after any of these other systems.

Toxins can contribute to fatigue, difficulty sleeping, indigestion, food cravings and weight gain, reduced metal clarity, low libido, skin issues and joint discomfort.

There are currently 80,000 synthetic chemicals registered for use in the United States. Over 800 million pounds of herbicides are used each year on our crops. Current research shows 167 industrial chemicals are found in adults with no employment-related exposure.

There are three phases of detoxification, the first two occur in the liver:

Phase 1 – The body transforms fat-soluble toxins to an “unlocked” state that is more water-soluble, and in many cases, more toxic than its original form. For almost all natural substances however, phase 1 is all that is need prior to transport to the bowel or kidneys. Caffeine, for example, only has to go through phase 1 detox.

Phase 2 – The highly toxic substances produced in Phase 1 convert to non-toxic molecules and become even more water-soluble. Up until about 100 years ago, phase 2 liver detox was reserved for hormone and alcohol detoxification. And those hormones were produced by you (endogenous) as no exogenous hormones existed. Estrogen, becomes dehydroxyestrogen in phase 1, some forms of which are carcinogenic. In phase 2 estrogen becomes a harmless, water-soluble compound excreted in the bowel and urine.

Phase 3 – Elimination of water-soluble toxins via the bowel and kidneys.

Most detox programs ramp up phase 1 detox. When phase 2 detox lags behind the result is an increase in highly toxic substances produced in phase 1 and the patient experiences “detox symptoms.”

The key is to support phase 2 detox first, then phase 3 and finally phase 1. We accomplish that by addressing steps 1-18 in the QA protocol prior to attempting liver detoxification.

The Bottom Line:
Detoxification is a significant issue for anyone living in the twenty-first century. However, you must improve general health and specific systems prior to a successful detox program.