Detoxification

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Purification (from slag , a combustion residue ) or detox (from English detoxification 'detoxification' ) is an expression in alternative medicine for measures that are supposed to excrete toxic substances and harmful metabolic products . The effectiveness of these processes has not been proven, the assumed modes of action do not correspond to today's knowledge about the functioning of the human body and what “slag” in the human body should be is not defined in more detail.

history

Purification is established under the term Panchakarma , especially in the traditional Hindu treatment methods of Ayurveda . The genesis of purification in this sense in the western world, on the other hand, only goes back to the end of the 19th century, when the large industrial cities received sewage systems. Corresponding to this, the theory of the development of the disease came up that the intestines and kidneys contain toxins and would remove them from the body. Constipation and urinary retention should produce putrefaction and internal poisoning like an overflowing canal. The term purification as an analogy to cleaning blast furnaces or the firebox of steam locomotives was first used by Otto Buchinger , a doctor who worked at the beginning of the 20th century and invented a fasting method.

concept

There is a lack of clarity both in the definition of the substances that fall under these "slags" and in terms of the measures that are to be considered "purification". Purification is usually understood to mean certain measures used in alternative medicine, which are summarized under the term drainage procedures , for example cupping , cantharid plasters , enemas , sweating cures ( sauna ), laxatives (laxatives) and fasting cures . Some procedures claim to be able to remove mercury (for example from amalgam tooth fillings ), vaccines or other "waste products".

Scientific assessment

Scientific medicine does not deny that the body absorbs toxins with food and that toxic intermediate and end products arise in the metabolism. Such substances are excreted in the bile and urine , possibly after transformations in the liver , or are not absorbed in the intestine at all . As long as the organs involved are healthy, supportive measures for these functions are not considered necessary. Disorders of detoxification and excretion are assumed in scientific medicine if the substances in question occur in increased concentrations in the blood or in other tissues. This is regularly the case with damage to the liver or kidneys, but usually not in people who are undergoing purification. Followers of the purification theory often do not mention any specific substances, and if they do, they are usually harmless from a scientific point of view in the amount present in the patient.

Scientific medicine is also familiar with diseases that are caused by substance deposits in tissue, e.g. B. cholesterol and calcium in arteriosclerosis , urate crystals in gout or proteins in many neurodegenerative diseases ; The causes are an unfavorable lifestyle and genetic predisposition. How these substances, which the body otherwise fails to eliminate, are to be discharged using purification methods, however, is not discernible.

During a fasting cure, the pollutant load of the blood increases because fat-soluble foreign substances that were previously stored harmlessly in adipose tissue are released again during fat breakdown. The foul-smelling substances secreted by fasters after a while are not toxins that have been stored for a long time, but products of hunger metabolism . Subjective health improvements or healing successes in pre-existing illnesses can possibly be explained by the metabolic change, in any case the placebo effect is likely to play a role as well as erroneous causal assumptions for complaints that would have disappeared without any treatment. For rheumatoid arthritis, there is scientific literature that shows at least a short-term improvement through fasting and subsequent dietary changes, although changes in the microbiome are assumed to be the cause rather than the elimination of any waste products. Some lifestyle changes recommended as part of the “purification” are also to be welcomed from a scientific point of view; it can often at least not be ruled out that “purification cures” (in ways other than those claimed) have a health benefit. Despite the sparse research, there are some positive effects of fasting. Is occupied z. B. the positive effect on cardiovascular diseases.

If “waste” is no longer meant as “substances requiring elimination”, therapies such as dialysis (“blood washing” in the case of kidney failure ) or bloodletting (in the case of hemochromatosis ) are evidence-based purification. Another example is the antibiotic intestinal decontamination or lactulose treatment to reduce ammonia uptake in the intestine when the liver is no longer able to detoxify the ammonia to urea due to severe damage .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Wipplinger: Detox: The myth of detoxification. In: Medicine transparent . Retrieved July 7, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Frequently asked questions and answers
  3. ↑ E. Ernst: Colonic irrigation and the theory of autointoxication: A triumph of ignorance over science . In: Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology . Volume 24, 1997, pp. 196-198. PMID 9252839
  4. ↑ Jörg Zittlau : The fairy tale of detox , Spiegel Online, March 18, 2012
  5. ↑ Kjeldsen-Kragh et al .: Controlled trial of fasting and one-year vegetarian diet in rheumatoid arthritis . In: Lancet . tape 338 , no. 8772 , October 1991, p. 899-902 , PMID 1681264 .
  6. ↑ Alan C. Gold Hamer et al .: Medically supervised water-only fasting in the treatment of borderline hypertension . In: Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, NY) . tape 8 , no. 5 , October 2002, p. 643-650 , doi : 10.1089 / 107555302320825165 , PMID 12470446 .