What alternative health

practitioners might not tell you

 

ebm-first.com

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“Patients may look to colon cleansing as a way to “enhance their well-being,” but in reality they may be doing themselves harm…Despite colon cleansing’s long history and current popularity, the literature does not support its purported benefits. Historically, colon cleansing was thought to prevent autointoxication from toxins originating in the colon, but the evidence for this claim is limited. A search of the literature using the terms “colon cleansing,” “herbal colon cleanse,” “colon detoxification,” and “colon irrigation,” yielded no scientifically robust studies in support of this practice…Most reports in the literature note a variety of adverse effects of colon cleansing that range from mild (eg, cramping, abdominal pain, fullness, bloating, nausea, vomiting, perianal irritation, and soreness) to severe (eg, electrolyte imbalance and renal failure). Some herbal preparations have also been associated with aplastic anemia and liver toxicity. Case reports also have noted back and pelvic abscesses after colonic hydrotherapy, fatal aeroportia (gas accumulation in the mesenteric veins) with air emboli, rectal perforations, perineal gangrene, acute water intoxication, coffee enema-associated colitis and septicemia, and deaths due to amebiasis.”  The Journal of Family Practice (August 2011)