Detox diets useless – eat less and exercise more for good health

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 12 2011

Detox diets may promise to help lose weight and purge the body of poisoning chemicals but the only thing that detox products will help lose is money, a British researcher says.

Detox diets based on raw fruit and vegetables, foot spas and colonic hydrotherapy have been claimed to boost health and rejuvenate by cleansing the body of chemicals Marketing is likely to become particularly fierce in the next few weeks, as millions who over-indulge during the Christmas period make New Year's resolutions to be healthier. But detox diets and other treatments are not the answer.

According to David Bender, an emeritus professor of nutritional biochemistry, the body is perfectly capable of ‘detoxing’ itself without any extra help. He says the claims made about ‘detoxing’ are at best unfounded and more likely undeniably false. He says some detox methods may even be dangerous.

In an article written in Society of Biology magazine The Biologist, he argues the term “detox” has gone from being applied to a chemical reaction involved in the production of urine, to “a meaningless marketing term”.

He explains that detox diets usually involve eating large amounts of fruit, vegetables and juices, while drinking lots of water and steering clear of caffeine, sugar and alcohol. They purport to boost health in a variety of ways, from raising energy levels to allowing the body to focus on self-healing.

Professor Bender, of University College, London, writes “I am not sure what 'self-healing' is and the idea of 'raised energy levels' is nonsense. The whole philosophy of detox is based on the unlikely premise that accumulated toxins cause a sluggish metabolism, weight gain, general malaise and so on. Weight gain is due to an imbalance between food consumption and energy expenditure. There is no magic shortcut for weight loss - you have to eat less and exercise more. It's that simple.”