Body cleansing or detoxification underpins many alternative medical treatments. Most of these treatments claim to rid the body of accumulated harmful substances, and their proponents maintain that a cleansed, detoxified body is able to heal itself of a variety of common ailments. Therefore, body cleansing is expected to lead to improved health. Critics argue that such cleansings are often unnecessary, and are based on questionable or disproved scientific claims.

Proponents' claims

Benefits

Body cleansing proponents claim numerous health benefits, including the benefit to various common ailments such as acne, allergies, colitis and Crohn's disease, among other conditions. While not necessarily a "cure" for these conditions, it is believed that body cleansing benefits various ailments through allowing the body to perform optimally and to utilize its innate ability to regain balance. This article needs cleanup. ... Colitis is a digestive disease characterized by inflammation of the colon. ... Crohns disease (also known as regional enteritis) is a chronic, episodic, inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by transmural inflammation (affecting the entire wall of the involved bowel) and skip lesions (areas of inflammation with areas of normal lining between). ...

Legitimate practitioners of various body cleansing techniques will not make medical claims outside of their scope of practice.

Scope

Body Cleansing has been utilized for centuries by various world cultures as a form of spiritual purification. Even the ancient Egyptians used cleansing rituals to rid the body of toxic waste believed to cause disease. Traditionally, these cleanses involved periods of fasting, consuming specific foods and herbs and enemas.

In the 19th century, cleansing proponents described the large intestine as a sewage system, claiming that stagnation caused toxins to be absorbed by the body. Laxatives, purges, and enemas were routinely recommended to prevent the accumulation of waste which could lead to this "autointoxication".

In cultures where fasts and cleansing are the norm, there are fewer incidence of obesity and various 'western' diseases. Modern cleansing owes its roots to German-born physician, Max Gerson, who developed a cancer treatment in the 1920s based on bowel cleansing and dietary changes. Dr. Gerson brought his treatment to the United States in 1938, where he practiced until his death in 1959. Max Gerson (18 October 1881 - 8 March 1959) was the developer of the Gerson therapy, an alternative therapy for cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. ...

Various modalities of body cleansing are used, employing physical treatments (e.g. colon hydrotherapy), dietary restrictions (e.g. avoiding foods) or dietary supplements. Colon therapy became very popular in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, when irrigation machines were commonly found in hospitals and physicians’ offices. Colon hydrotherapy, also known as colonic irrigation, is an alternative medical procedure, sometimes associated with naturopathy. ...

Some modalities also use certain herbs and supplements made out of flowers and roots, to further speed up the process of cleansing. Popular remedies prescribed in Naturopathy and Homoeopathy are also used in such herbs-assisted cleansing. Naturopathic medicine is the practice of assisting in the health of patients through the application of natural remedies. ... Homeopathy (also spelled homœopathy or homoeopathy), from the Greek words homoios (similar) and pathos (suffering), is a controversial system of alternative medicine involving the use of remedies without chemically active ingredients. ...

Single organs

While many aim to detoxify the whole body, some aim to detoxify particular organs, such as the colon, kidney or liver. In colon cleansing, fiber and other herbal supplements are consumed in an attempt to clean the colon. In kidney cleansing, juices, supplements and herbs are used to dissolve kidney stones and "flush" the kidneys. In liver cleansing, specific foods are consumed to cause the liver and gall bladder to flush toxins and fatty deposits from the body. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Large intestine. ... The kidneys are organs that filter wastes (such as urea) from the blood and excrete them, along with water, as urine. ... For the bird, see Liver bird. ... Dietary fibers are the indigestible portion of plant foods that move food through the digestive system, absorbing water and making defecation easier. ...

Whole-body

In addition to cleansing of specific organs, some techniques of body cleansing focus on the entire body. For example, parasite cleansing involves consuming bitter herbs in the form of tinctures and pills in sufficient quantities to create an inhospitable environment in the body for parasites. Fasting involves the withholding of food over the period of a few days in order to reduce the load on the body associated with digesting food and processing waste, and thereby allowing the body to heal itself naturally. Oxygen therapy involves targeting oxidation reactions to neutralize toxins and bacteria. Hyperthermia involves increasing the body's temperature, in order to accelerate the body's healing process and increase immune system activity.

Criticism

Quackwatch contributor Frances M. Berg writes, Quackwatch Inc. ...

The elaborate, manipulative hoax of "detoxification" is gaining ground ... The detoxification theory can enable con artists to gain great power over their customers by diagnosing and curing "potentially fatal" (but nonexistent) illnesses. "They have to invent the idea of toxins," says Peter Fodor, president of the Lipoplasty Society of North America, "because that gives them something to pretend they can fix."^[1]

A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, or con for short, (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ...

References

1. ^ Berg, Francis. "Detoxification" with Pills and Fasting. Quackwatch. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.