The prospect is attractive. A small cure fitness of a few days to a base of lemons, juice of vegetables, or “foot baths and ionizing” to get back on our feet after new year’s eve. But be careful, behind the ads miracles, there is no scientific fact, explained by several doctors.
” What is called detox in the magazines gives the impression to people that they can purify themselves, which is completely illusory “, stresses from the Agence France-Presse the physician and biochemist Robert Barouki, director of an Inserm unit of toxicology. It intervenes in a video recently posted online by the scientific research organization, dedicated to the false promises of a detox treatment.
“there is a problem of definition : detox, it is blur, it refers to no specific definition,” said the Agence France-Presse dr. François Morel, secretary of the collective Fakemed. Created by doctors signatories in march of a forum against homeopathy and alternative therapies, this association aims to fight against “fake news” in the medical field. The sponsors detox, including stars like actress Gwyneth Paltrow, to ensure that the consumption of certain foods would eliminate “toxins” that accumulate in our body.
” The word toxin, it speaks to people. But to say that there are toxins that would imply that the organization is not able to manage them, which is not true, ” argues dr. Morel. “For example, when we eat a lot of protein, the body produces ammonia, but it is quite capable of transforming it into urea through the liver and get rid of it via the kidneys,” says dr. Barouki.
one of The stars of the diets detox is the lemon, which was supposed to “clean the liver” or ” deacidification of the body “. “The lemon doesn’t hurt, and eating citrus fruits, which contain vitamins, it is very well, but he does not believe it can eliminate toxins, sweeps Robert Barouki. “To say that the lemon helps to fight against the acidification of the body, it has no scientific basis “, adds François Morel.
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“extreme care”
Some of the products recommended in the framework of the “detox treatment” are less trivial. St. john’s wort, a plant consumed as a tea and also very popular against the blues, contains a substance that accelerates the degradation of drugs in the body and lessens their effect. This is why a woman who takes the pill and uses st. john’s wort may become pregnant despite the contraception. On the other hand, grapefruit may increase the action of certain drugs and lead to overdoses. “St. john’s wort and grapefruit are to be handled with extreme care,” says Robert Barouki.
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The devices of “detox” that market some companies can go beyond merely diets. “For example, there are patches that you glue on the foot and become brown [evidence supposed of the evacuation of toxins, ED.], staining that is due to the humidity,” said Robert Barouki. “There are also foot baths with a small current is supposed to eliminate toxins, which has no scientific validity,” he continued. Ditto for the virtues of so-called “detoxifying” of the sauna.
On their website, the national Institutes of health (NIH) estimate that ” there is no convincing evidence that diets detox to help eliminate toxins or are beneficial to health.” If your body cries through after entire days spent to abuse the foie gras, chocolate or champagne, the solution is much simpler, note Robert Barouki : “It is necessary to eat light meals to put the body at rest, staying hydrated by drinking water, and that is all. This is just stupid. “
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