Many of my patients have asked me about the benefits and risks of colon cleansing. I’m a fan of complementary alternative medicine as long as there is clinical evidence that it works and causes no harm. The latest study quoted in WebMD.com isn’t very encouraging. Here’s a quote from the article:
“Colon cleansing, promoted as a natural way to boost well-being, has no proven benefits and may be risky, according to a new report.
Ranit Mishori, MD, a family medicine doctor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, looked at studies that evaluated colon hydrotherapy or irrigation. She also looked at studies of cleansing by the use of laxatives, teas, and other products taken by mouth or inserted into the rectum.
“If you are a healthy human being, there is no reason to detoxify yourself using these concoctions or colon hydrotherapy,” Mishori tells WebMD.
“The body is designed to detoxify itself,” she says. “There is no need to help the body do that. If you are not a healthy person and have heart disease, diabetes, or kidney disease, definitely don’t do that.”
The study is published in The Journal of Family Practice.”
To read the entire article, including rebuttals from the Association of Colon Hydrotherapy, click here.