Friday
May282010
Fri, May 28, 2010 | by Lisa Barger Top 5 "Benefits" of Colon Cleansing--Is It True?
A colon “cleanser”
I often get asked why I write so many colon cleansing articles. Here’s my answer: There are thousands and thousands of websites, blogs and forum postings out there trying to sell you a product you don’t need—and they’re using half-truths (and sometimes outright lies) to do it.Ever see one of those “Top 5” lists for why colon cleansing is so vital to your health? I do—nearly every day—and there’s about 1 kernel of truth in them wrapped up in a whole bunch of nonsense and a whole lot of fear-mongering. Let’s look at the top 5 “benefits” of colon cleansing and break them down 1 by 1.
Benefit #1: Colon cleansing removes toxic mucoid plaque.
Folks who cite this as a reason to “cleanse” claim that cleansing removes a made-up toxic layer known as mucoid plaque. If this “plaque” coating isn’t removed, they say, it sits there in your colon, re-releasing those “toxins”. The “toxins” are then re-absorbed into the blood stream and you’re less healthy for it.
Truth: “Mucoid plaque” is a made-up phrase that never existed until a guy named Richard Anderson wrote about it in a book about 20 years ago. (Anderson, naturally, formulates a line of “cleansing” products that he’ll happily sell you.) But no legitimate medical study—not even one appearing in one of the “alternative” medical journals—has ever documented the existence of this supposedly invisible toxic coating of plaque and the term does not appear in any medical text book we can find.
Benefit #2: Colon cleansing increases your absorption of nutrients.
By removing that toxic layer of gunk, say the sellers of colon cleansers, you increase your absorption of nutrients.
Truth: To understand why this one is false, think back to what you learned in school about digestion. Most of it takes place in the small intestine—not the colon. The colon is capable of absorbing some nutrients but it lacks the special mini-organs known as villi. Those are found only in the small intestine and they are the parts of the digestive system responsible for digestion—not the colon.
Benefit #3: Colon cleansing helps you lose weight.
Cleanse your colon and you can lose 45 pounds some folks say. Some claim it’s pounds of “impacted” fecal matter and some claim you’ll lose actual body fat.
Truth: You may lose weight during a cleanse but it’s a false weight loss because much of what you’ll have lost was actually gained after you started the cleanse. Here’s why: most of those cleansers (the vast majority of them, in fact) are nearly all fiber. And what does fiber do in your colon? It absorbs water and holds on to it—and it can hold on to a lot. Your first bowel movement after starting a cleanse might result in a 1 or even 2 pound “loss” but it’s not fat—it’s simply the ingredients of the cleanse and all the moisture they’re holding onto.
Benefit #4: Colon cleansing prevents cancer.
Truth: There is some evidence to suggest that a diet rich in fiber may help reduce the risks of certain cancers—including colon cancer—but the exact mechanism by which this happens isn’t clear. Some of the early studies on fiber and colon cancer have been criticized for their poor design and some medical experts have theorized that it’s not so much the fiber as the antioxidants and other nutrients that high-fiber foods like raw fruits and fresh vegetables offer that’s really reducing cancer. What no legitimate medical expert believes, though, is that any colon cleanser prevents colon cancer by using fiber to “scrape off” microscopic tumors before they get a chance to become deadly. There’s just absolutely no proof whatsoever that that’s even possible.
Benefit #5: Colon cleansing speeds up your digestive tract and regulates your bowel movements.
Truth: As with most health myths we tackle here at LisaBarger.com, this one has a kernel of truth to it. Unfortunately for the scam artists, though, it doesn’t work quite the way colon cleanser sellers claim. A colon cleaner may increase the number of eliminations you experience per day and it may lower what’s call the “transit” time of digested food. But, again, that’s the fiber working. You’d get exactly the same effect if you simply added more fiber to your diet.
On the other hand, if you’re taking a colon cleanser that contains turkey rhubarb, walnut hulls or cascara, you may very well find that your bowel movements “speed up” as though you’d taken a laxative from the pharmacy department of your local supermarket. And do you want to know why? Those ingredients (and others) act very much like commercial laxatives. The herbs your cleanser contains may be “natural” but they still act by irritating the lining of your colon and cause it to “purge”—exactly the same way some drugstore laxatives do.
Whether you buy a colon cleanser or not is up to you. My only hope is that I’ve given you a little information to help you make an informed decision.
Reader Comments (13)
Thank you sooo much for the clarification! At last- truth!
Thanks, Etalia. We try. :-)
Ms. Lisa Barger,
To some degree I understand your cynicism regarding what is true and what is not. There are enough bogus and expensive products out there to support your cynicism. (Believe me, I have sorted through many health claims and spent quite a bit of money on products that disappointed me.) Although it was an expensive lesson, it was a lesson nonetheless.
However, I am pretty sure you would have to agree with me that among all the bogus "cures" out there, there are true, definitive things that are useful for this or that ailment. The difficulty is this: What is specifically good for you or me?
As the old sayings go, "Caveat Emptor!" "Let the customer beware!"...It is our responsibility to sift through the information given in order to find the truth and the specific nuggets of knowledge valuable to us...
This thousands of years old principle "Let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food." (Hippocrates) has guided me in my search for the truth about what will help me.
One person may recommend something that may not have the same effect on his or her friend. However, that doesn't make the first person a liar. It just leads us to the principle that each person experiences his own individual reaction to a specific remedy, based on his body make-up and the personal influences he or she is experiencing.
Personally, I have quite a number of issues with my health. Then my health was greatly worsened from taking a prescribed medicine. I HAD to look for alternatives, and Colonix was one of the products that made a definite difference in my health and my awareness of what affects my health.
The thing that prompted me to actually take the Colonix cleanse was that I felt extremely horrible (toxified) and I was getting scared that I was just going to die. As a direct result of this cleanse personally have SEEN old, hardened, extremely smelly mucusy build-up that was peeled off of the inside of my intestines from this product (THERE IS NO WAY IT WAS JUST THE PRODUCT ITSELF), and I also felt relief from a lessened toxic load.
Doing the Colonix cleans also gave me an increased awareness of the direct relationship between what was going into my body and what effect it had on my health. I see that as advancing my education in my own personal quest to get back to optimal health. That has been worth every penny to me.
So, my challenge to you is this:
What do you have to RECOMMEND instead of just cutting down other people and their recommendations from their own experiences? I would value that kind of input.
Most of the valuable and useful information I have found and begun to apply to myself has been around for many years, but I would never have known it unless someone knowledgeable AND GENEROUS showed me where to look for it. For that I am very grateful! I don't know where I would be without it!
I'm glad Colonix worked for you--I really am. I'm not sure why presenting an alternative point of view is "cutting down other people", though. "Caveat Emptor!" only works when everyone's playing fair and a lot of folks hawking supplements and herbal remedies aren't. Exposing lies, scams and marketing hype isn't pleasant but I feel it's important.
As for what I recommend . . . we don't really do that here at LisaBarger.com because I would personally prefer readers to make an informed choice based on good science. And we have thousands and thousands of pages here to help them do just that.
Lisa,
a) What is meant by mucoid plaque (gunk, if you will) is very real, whether you like that word or not. (If you look at the history of the English language, someone starts using a unique term, and sooner or later others begin to use it. That's how words get into general circulation).
I'm not sure how you got the idea that it is invisible. It is very visible. I've seen it with my own eyes.
b) Colon cleansing refers mainly to the cleaning of the entire intestines (excuse my bluntness), not merely the last section of them. I personally saw the difference in my uptake of nutrients after my cleanse. The proof: I was finally able to put on weight: before this I could eat as much as I wanted and it didn't produce any weight gain.
c) I personally did not lose weight, but I gained a flatter stomach and a wonderful "empty" feeling that feels great! ! Some people have reported losing weight long-term. Whether it is impacted fecal matter or actual fat from removing toxins (fat holds onto toxins) from their bodies, I would still be happy for them!
d) If you look at the alarming number of people who do get colon cancer, wouldn't you would want to be in the front line, doing something to prevent such a horrible disease? (I just had a friend who succumbed to it!) Statistically, the people most susceptible to colon cancer are those with the least fibre and most sugars (and excessive fats) in their diets (a junk food diet). Again, prevention (a high-fibre, high nutrient diet combined with periodic colon cleansing) is the best medicine!
e) If you think about food moving through your (warm) body, I think transit time is pretty important, especially for someone who has compromised digestion (ie. low hydrochloric acid in their stomach, leaky gut, etc). If it sits too long inside, it can ferment and rot away right inside of us, causing any number of problems as it moves through. The body's response to this is to cover the offending poison with mucus, hence mucoid plaque.
The point is, it sounds very much like you are just knocking colon cleansing, specifically Colonix, and I just don't believe Colonix deserves that kind of treatment. It IS one of the best colon-cleansing products out there, and taken right, is not a waste of anyone's money.
Esther
Well, I've already outlined my position on why mucoid plaque doesn't exist, how colon cleansers trick people into believing they work and some of lies colon cleansers use to scare you into buying.
I'm not really sure what else I could add at this point.
Hi
I suffer from Ulcerative Colitis and have to have a colonoscopy every year. My colon is cleaned out using a preparation (it has to be completely clean or they can't do the examination) and not once in 20 years have I ever seen any "gunk" come out during the process.
I rest my case.
Bev
Thanks for taking time to share your experience, Bev. :-)
By reading between the lines we can see where Lisa Barger comes from.
Where are the warnings about dangerous prescription drugs?
Drugs that are "perfectly save" last month are now taken of the market as they kill people.
Natural medicines and drugless cures have been around for many thousands of years, while "modern" medicine has only been around for decades. Medical doctors who prescribe pharmaceuticals are agents for drug companies only and if there was a level playing field very few people would take these dangerous substances . (I can still remember the commercials of doctors advocating smoking on TV.) There is a natural remedy for every condition in Nature. Every human is different and each need specialized treatment, the idea that one chemical will do the same for everyone is a myth, promoted by big Pharma.
Colon cleansing with nutritional advice has saved many peoples lives but self medication can cause problems (and give natural remedies a bad name) Professional herbalist and naturopaths have done similar studies as MDs and should be consulted rather than just purchasing OTC products, which may not have the strength and purity of the 'Practitioner only' medication.
And as far as the colon is concerned "Better out than in"
"Lion", stick around a while and you'll see we have thousands of articles here on proven "natural" remedies that don't promise to remove some made-up "toxin" invented by a guy who sells colon cleansers.
Interesting Article .. The colon is the last part of the digestive system in most vertebrates; it extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body, and is the site in which flora-aided (largely bacterial) fermentation of unabsorbed material occurs.
Thus this article could really rated as Beneficial! Will surely recommend this site to my friends. Thank you!
Snake oil is snake oil. Thank you for pointing it out. Unfortunately, for those who believe this hoodoo magic bologna, nothing you say will change their minds. It's like those morons who are willing to expose their children to potential suffering and death because some scammer doctor falsified reports about vaccinations. Even though he's admitted to fraud, been stripped of his license, and arrested, people still spread his lies. As for colon cleansing, a friend's grandmother was convinced that it was the best thing for all that ails you. She died of... Surprise! COLON CANCER!!! My mother's friend is one of those health nuts who's a good vegetarian, takes all the supplements, and cleanses her colon regularly. She's suffering from...Shocking! STOMACH CANCER!!! These are just a few examples, but logically, if you start messing with the natural balance of your body by doing all these crazy things, you're going to invite trouble.
Thanks, Rae.