With the craze for detox and cleanses taking the world over by storm, a new product to clean the mind, body and soul is out in the market everyday. And among those many, many ways arrives the latest trend – coffee enema.
A $135 Implantorama System, which is, as the website claims, "a clean way to do coffee enemas, ozone water enemas, or nutrient implants," has evolved as the latest machine exclusively for that special purpose. But how safe is the entire concept?
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The product's page describes the concept as: "Coffee enemas can mean relief from depression, confusion, general nervous tension, many allergy related symptoms and, most importantly, relief from severe pain. Coffee enemas lower serum toxins."
But, anatomically, just like the female genitalia, the colon cleans itself, meaning there really is no need for us to go the extra mile or spend a fortune for a normal bodily function. Not to mention the coffee enema can be actually dangerous.
The American Journal of Gastroenterology reported that coffee enemas can cause proctocolitis – the inflammation of the rectum and colon. "Coffee enema has no proven benefit and carries considerable risk of provoking unwanted complications," the journal noted.
On top of that, ideally, unless one has been poisoned, there's absolutely no need to undergo any kind of cleanse or detox at all. "If your goal is to detox your system, don't waste your time or money. Your body is an expert at getting rid of toxins no matter what you eat," Dr Michael Smith shared with WebMD.
"Toxins don't build up in your liver, kidneys, or any other part of your body, and you're not going to get rid of them with the latest detox wonder. Especially avoid diets that promise to detox your liver with supplements or 'cleanse' whatever the diet determines needs washing out."
While this in no way implies those who cannot change their eating habits and cut down on processed foods, jump-starting a "detox" or "cleanse" isn't going to be much help either.
"The only type of detox diet that is worthwhile is one that limits processed, high-fat, and sugary foods, and replaces them with more whole foods like fruits and vegetables," Dr Smith recommended.
Also, as the Journal of Family Practice lists, there have been multiple cases of people suffering adverse reactions from colonics, including vomiting, diarrhea, overall weakness, dizziness, severe abdominal pain, and even renal failure.
And as frequently as these new cleanse and detox trends pop up every year, colonics and enemas have been around for a much longer time and have recently been revived by health gurus all over social media.
In ancient times, because people believed that the waste in your colon could poison you, as The Journal of Family Practice reported, and that's what lead to an uprising in the practise of cleaning colons, even though the reason behind is a farce.
The American Medical Association had even condemned colon cleansing in 1919, its popularity has soared in recent years. And if you're debating over its credibility, you should be aware that 'bloodletting' also used to be a thing in the past, where people were made to bleed to cure diseases.
As the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology states, "Today we are witnessing a resurgence of colonic irrigation based on little less than the old bogus claims and the impressive power of vested interests. Even today's experts on colonic irrigation can only provide theories and anecdotes in its support. It seems, therefore, that ignorance is celebrating a triumph over science."
And simply speaking – things like coffee enema just promote the idea that taking a shortcut to cleansing the body is reaching all your health goals, while people don't consider the risks that come with the process.
