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Is Detox A Myth?

By Njideka Agbo
20 November 2018   |   7:00 pm
You have probably heard that detoxing your body is one of the best things to happen to you. There are countless articles, companies and food enthusiasts that treat detoxification as a matter of urgency. These articles preach that detoxing gets rid of all toxins in the system. As such, it should be treated with a matter…

You have probably heard that detoxing your body is one of the best things to happen to you. There are countless articles, companies and food enthusiasts that treat detoxification as a matter of urgency. These articles preach that detoxing gets rid of all toxins in the system. As such, it should be treated with a matter of urgency.

Now, isn’t this something?

However, scientists say this is a scam sold to you by companies who want to sell their products.

To put it in Emeritus professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, Edzard Ernst’s words:
“Let’s be clear, there are two types of detox: one is respectable (medical treatment of people with drug addictions) and the other isn’t.”

“The other is the word being hijacked by entrepreneurs, quacks and charlatans to sell a bogus treatment that allegedly detoxifies your body of toxins you’re supposed to have accumulated.”

If those toxins which the “other” claims to flush, builds up, “The healthy body has kidneys, a liver, skin, even lungs that are detoxifying.” “There is no known way – certainly not through detox treatments – to make something that works perfectly well in a healthy body work better.”

What is worse? A research carried out in 2009 showed that companies who claimed to have detox products could not name what toxins their products were flushing or what detoxification means.

“It’s a scandal. It’s criminal exploitation of the gullible man on the street and it sort of keys into something that we all would love to have – a simple remedy that frees us of our sins, so to speak. It’s nice to think that it could exist but unfortunately it doesn’t,” Ernst notes.

The good news is, it makes you reconsider your options if you want to take a go on a risky health adventure.

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