Some sanity about the “detox” segment - worth billions - of the food industry:
BBC Health
Star Tribune
Sense about science
Quackwatch
As always, this bamboozle attracts the opportunists and BS artists in droves. Just look at all the detox products you can get at the local supermarket and pharmacy.
'Luthon64
Good links - thanks.
It makes sense that herbal supplements (adding foreign stuff to your body) and detoxing (getting rid of foreign stuff) are both successful markets. Create fear that the consumer is doing something or not doing something that’s wrong, and provide a solution that involves paying money and doing something tangible and different.
Here is a webpage with links to download PDFs of some of Petr Skrabanek’s popular writings. Skrabanek was an epidemiologist who had an axe to grind with the way that epidemiology by and large is being practised, with every and any correlation, whether spurious or not, between some clinical condition and an assumed risk factor being a source of much alarm. He also had a slightly smaller bone to pick with the new so-called preventive medicine, in particular its over-zealous application. If nothing else, these texts are thought-provoking, and the prose is an unexpected delight for the discerning reader.
'Luthon64
A nice collection of dietary fact sheets, and specifically concerning detoxing: BDA Food Facts: Losing Weight and detoxing
I know this is humour, but related to this thread.
From the http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/Denialism blog on ScienceBlogs.com:
Detoxification: New Environmental Concerns Necessitate Action
Category: Altie Meds
Posted on: August 29, 2008 11:19 PM, by Chris H
As PalMD has pointed out, millions of Americans use detoxification to improve their optimal health and well being. But the wisdom of detoxification has an underbelly, one not discussed in the MSM: what happens to those toxins after detoxification?
Unfortunately, those toxins do not just disappear. They are exuded from your body and circulate in your immediate environment, placing your family members and animal companions at risk. The toxins then magnify in their bodies, and if they detoxify, you can be retoxinated. This is what is called the deretoxification trap.
An additional problem is that some toxins escape down the drain, where they poison water systems. Even worse, your pets, which do not have good detoxification therapies, may absorb and keep the very toxins you have exuded.
Technology and changes in behavior can minimize the risk from deretoxification. First, after detoxification, you should hold your breath when urinating or evacuating. During these periods, toxins are most likely to leave your body in an aerosolized form and either be reabsorbed or accumulate in the tissues of others. It is very important to never urinate or evacuate near individuals with compromised immune systems, or those sensitive to toxins.
Second, you should avoid perspiration, because toxins are exuded at their greatest rate when sweating. Avoid saunas and vigorous exercise, as perspiration may occur near your orifices, thus allowing toxins to reenter your body.
Pregnancy raises difficult deretoxification challenges. I recommend that you do not detoxify in the last month of pregnancy, or any time during breast feeding. It’s best to keep your toxins deep inside your body during this critical period of development.
Technology offers new opportunities to end the deretoxification trap. Denialism blog is happy to announce that we have partnered with Mike Adams, a leader in the vibrational nutrition field, to create special filtering masks to help those who have difficulty holding their breath during long periods of urination or evacuation.
We are also developing a magnetic filter to help trap toxins in your waste water. This filter, which employs extra strong magnets (offering the derivative benefit of better blood flow for those who spend long periods in the bathroom), collects toxins and allows you to recycle them at your local toxin reclamation site.